BWW Reviews: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Opens in Los Angeles

After a stellar off-Broadway run in 2012, and a Tony-award winning Broadway production in 2013, the Los Angeles premiere of Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike", opened Sunday night at the Mark Taper Forum, and it was well worth the wait to see. The title of the play alone elicits a chuckle, and subtly hints at the clever, witty and creative conceit of the work - a kind of Chekovian dark comedy - that ultimately provides a joyous evening of laughter.

Using character names, settings and plot points from Chekov's great works, Durang transports these things to modern day Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and gives our characters modern problems, as if they were classic Chekov characters. It opens with middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia, who have lived in the family home since they both spent their adult lives looking after their ailing parents. Since the parents passed away, however, they have simply existed in the house - with Sonia bringing Vanya coffee every morning as seemingly the one thing giving her purpose. Without jobs nor money, they have been supported by their movie-star sister, Masha, who has paid for the house and all its associated costs. But all this is thrown into turmoil when Masha decides to pay a visit to Vanya and Sonia, alongside her much younger, beautiful but somewhat dim lover (and wannabe actor) Spike, and informs her siblings that she plans to sell the house.

This all sets the table for a raucous two hours of verbal inter-play, where each of our characters seems to have some sort of existential crisis, not sure of who they are, who they have become and what's in store for them in the future.

Each character is filled with their own kind of delusion and self-pity. Sonia, the adopted sister, who describes herself as "kinda like furniture" is played with dour delight by Kristine Nielsen (who played the role in the Broadway production), has always lived in the shadow of her self-absorbed, needy and looking for validation sister Masha played effervescently by Christine Ebersole. Masha, doesn't "remember dates" she "just lives," but in fact, she has issues of her own, not wanting to acknowledge that she is, in fact, an aging actress who wants to be remembered for being a classically trained stage actress, but is in fact most famous for her role in a horror movie franchise. Vanya, meanwhile, played with just the right amount of disinterest by Mark Blum, seems to want to live in the past, and has a spectacular Act 2 monologue that is both a reminder of a simpler time but also a sign that he is afraid to admit time marches on and life changes.

Yes, these are dark themes, but Durang always finds a way to make his own kind of "theatre of the absurd," where we can laugh along with our characters, or even at them, perhaps because we all know there is an element of truth in it all, even applied to our own lives. With the addition of Spike, who is delightfully self-absorbed, yet blissfully unaware of his own surroundings, and Cassandra, the housekeeper who has prophecies that no one wants to believe, Durang offers these two as a great counterpoint to our main characters, living in the moment and focused on the future, with the two actors playing them, David Hull and Shalita Grant, respectively, both adding a jolt to the proceedings.

Directed by David Hyde Pierce, who originated the role of Vanya, the play clips along at a nice pace, and the chemistry and comradeship amongst the cast is palpable. As with any great piece of theatre, you feel as though you have stumbled into a situation where the people you are watching are completely unaware that you can see them, which speaks wonder to the environment Pierce has created for his players to truly let loose and seamlessly become these flawed, yet lovable characters.

"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" is currently playing through March 9th at the Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles with performances Tuesday through Friday at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 2:30pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 1:00 pm and 6:30pm. Tickets are available online at CenterTheatreGroup.org, by phone at 213.628.2772, or in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Music Center.

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