October 3, 2008

'Seagull' opens on Broadway with Kristin Scott Thomas

Kristin Scott Thomas last night made her Broadway debut to rave reviews in a new translation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”

Transferring from London’s Royal Court, the play will only be in New York for 14 weeks.

Many of the critics rank the production among the best-ever for Chekhov (including the New York Times, Variety and Newsday,) but there are some who fail to agree, (including Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and Newark Star-Ledger.) Peter Sarsgaard, one of the few Americans added to the cast in the transfer, is sometimes singled out for criticism.

“The Seagull” features a new translation by Christopher Hampton and is directed by Ian Rickson. It plays through December 21 at the Walter Kerr Theatre at 219 W. 48th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $41 to $110, but aisle seats are $135 and must be purchased in pairs.Premium seats are $252.

A selection of the reviews:

New York Times - “The careful cultivation of such transparency, to the point that we feel instinctively tuned into the minds of every individual onstage, helps to make this “Seagull” the finest and most fully involving production of Chekhov that I have ever known.”

Variety - “Rarely is the writer’s signature balance of humor, pathos and tragedy so exquisitely rendered or the modulation between them orchestrated so affectingly. Despite one casting choice that doesn’t quite measure up, this is powerful theater.”

Newsday - “How thrilling, finally, to have a version of “The Seagull” that understands why we cherish Anton Chekhov.”

USA Today - “Sadly, though, Sarsgaard doesn’t rise to the challenges confronting him any more than his complex and crucial character does. It might be an overstatement to say that his curiously awkward, lackluster performance fatally wounds this Seagull, which opened Thursday at the Walter Kerr Theatre, but only a slight one.”

Post - “Arkardina is a great role, and Scott Thomas - the classic beauty of “The English Patient” and the jaded pal of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” - gives a great performance. With her leonine patrician profile, puffs of dismay, snorts of delight and petty diva excesses, she gives a perfect portrait of an actress close to the top of that first downward swoop.”

Hollywood Reporter - “Thomas in her belated New York stage debut, figures to be the snob theatre event of Broadway’s fall season.”

Daily News - “Less well-known, but no less phenomenal, is Carey Mulligan, who plays Nina and instantly captures your heart with her teary-eyed, exquisitely emotional portrayal. Mackenzie Crook seems to draw from a deep well of sadness as Konstantin, the experimental playwright hopelessly in love with her.”

Wall Street Journal - “Not until well into the second act did I figure out what was bothering me. Especially in Christopher Hampton’s new English-language version, this is a very British “Seagull,” but not in the pale, old-fashioned way: I’ve never seen a production of “The Seagull” that was played so successfully, even relentlessly, for laughs. Up to a point this is as it should be, but Mr. Rickson’s staging is overemphatic and overly detailed, often to the point of outright fussiness.”

Hartford Courant - “Yet much of this “Seagull” is sharply funny. With her cynical attitude toward her only son, and her stinginess — “I do have some money, but I’m an actress, you know; my costume bills alone are enough to ruin me” — Scott Thomas makes Arkadina into a kind of beautiful monster.”

Associated Press - “Hampton’s crisp, clean adaptation lays the groundwork for director Ian Rickson’s uncommonly lucid revival that stars Kristin Scott Thomas (making her Broadway debut) as the supremely self-absorbed actress Arkadina.”

Bloomberg - “The acting is mostly good, though the casting and direction are questionable. The women are either exaggerated or misrepresented: The always fascinating Scott Thomas is prodded into an Arkadina even more actressy than the text already calls for; Zoe Kazan’s Masha is more histrionic than written. Carey Mulligan’s basically good Nina doesn’t quite convey her mad self-projection into the shot seagull. “

Newark Star-Ledger - “Perhaps I’m merely sick of seeing so many revivals, but this particular dish doesn’t satisfy. Of course, everyone has differing tastes on how they like this piece done. Personally, I favor a romantic approach to Chekhov’s 1895 study in youthful aspirations and later-life disillusion — its yearnings drenched in moonlight and underscored by distant music.”

October 3, 2008 9:24 AM in Broadway

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