BWW Reviews: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Offers an Odd Night of Fun at Riverside Community Players

Christopher Durang's 2013 Tony award-winning comedy in which he tosses Chekhovian themes and characters into a blender is not a great play, whether one is familiar with Chekhov or not, but it is typical Durang.

Now playing at the Riverside Community Players and directed by Frank Minano, Vanya is a difficult production to mount - the constant warbling between gloom and farce makes finding a tone tough, and while the pacing on this production could be tighter, Minano pulls it all together into a fairly solid ship.

Siblings Vanya (Ron Hastings) and Sonia (Cindi East) have led reclusive lives at the family estate that sits among a footnote of a cherry orchard. Their sister Masha (Jill Gerber), a movie queen nearing her expiration date, shows up one day with a young, brainless stud Spike (Steven Mueller), and a neighboring guest Nina (Brandi Douglas) also stumbles in, star struck over Masha and charmed by Vanya. The household is soon turned upside down as the siblings clash, egos are bruised, wandering eyes wander further, a costume party goes awry, and a voodoo-loving housekeeper (Caitlyn McCain) predicts doom for all.

But what is this play about and why should we see it? Those are questions many critics - and actors - have struggled to answer. The play isn't about anything, really, (much like Chekhov's work) and this lies at the feet of Durang, who, it feels, wrote it on a lark. Larks are fun, of course, and the screwiness of this one has appealed to a majority of audiences, but the trials and tribulations of the characters are remote, and because of this, it can be hard for us to connect. The only thing that ever saves a production of Vanya is a stellar cast, and fortunately for Minano, he chose one.

Gerber plays Masha like a tightly strung violin, her grandiosity never overwrought enough to seem self-conscious, but just overly dramatic enough to be in character. Masha, with her condescension, self-absorption and insecurity can be difficult to tolerate - a real trigger for some who see the show - but Gerber manages to find a thread of humanity in Masha that makes her both entertaining and endearing. She's also very, very funny.

East strikes a similar chord in Sonia. A depressive whiner, Sonia is textbook schlump, yet East builds her a backbone with an undercurrent of smart. Sonia is the only character who is truly self-aware, and while she may not know how to live a life, she can certainly see through the charade of everyone else pretending that they do. In Act II, when Sonia finally gets her chance at love, East shines in a monologue that is both moving and utterly believable.

Vanya is perhaps the most difficult part to play. As the least caricature of the lot, he's the required straight man, even though he gets to deliver the best lines, and Hastings expertly maneuvers out of the realm of monotone dullard into witty, passionate observer. Even his Act II lecture on the perils of modernity - a rough piece of writing to swallow, even if you agree with it - goes down more like vitamins than medicine.

Meanwhile, Steven Mueller delivers a highly entertaining Spike, Caitlyn McCain's whirling, prophetic Cassandra offers bright comedic moments (although she is often at odds with the pacing), and Brandi Douglas elevates wholesome Nina from adoring wallflower to prescient witness.

There's much to like about Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and a little that's tedious. But, if you're not expecting high camp, it's worth an evening's investment - and at least you're not sitting through The Seagull.

Photo credit: Alan Merrigan

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