Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
“If everyone was on anti-depressants, Chekhov would have had nothing to write about,” announces one of the characters in the hilarious new Christopher Durang play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which is now playing a limited run at Broadway’s Golden Theatre.
Durang is a frequent translator of Anton Chekhov’s works and
this is sort of his comedy-of-the-absurd love letter to the playwright. If you
know Chekhov’s work (like The CherryOrchard or Uncle Vanya, recently adapted by Annie Baker), as well as other classics (Greek, Shakespearean and
otherwise), you’ll relish the nuances and allusions that abound. If not, you’ll
still howl at the absurd characters populating Durang’s play.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDP6tQlk7cXR-A8mmv6EzJZS8as11-a44vjvJTmjaA7tspVY8tCusW9VC5zkORVI90E6mEmJsINTRN6u7oBsaUJfal6W5VPNM0Ygn_AduKKziHJA3i7Blw6oeFloIvbbEkl63je4qWJFz/s1600/SigourneyWeaver.jpg)
We open with Vanya (David Hyde Pierce) and his (adopted)
sister Sonia (Kristine Nielsen) drinking coffee in their Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, farm house. We soon meet their cleaning woman, Cassandra—yes, that Cassandra—played with zeal by
Shalita Grant, who arrives with a few warnings for the siblings. The hilarity
kicks into high gear when Vanya and Sonia’s sister, Masha (Sigourney Weaver)
arrives with her much younger boy toy boyfriend, Spike (Billy Magnussen).
Later, Vanya and Sonia’s neighbor's niece, Nina (Genevieve Angelson), who happens to be
a big fan of Masha’s, is thrown into the mix.
There’s really not much in the way of plot—just lots of
sibling rivalry and personal foibles, but that’s similar to many of Chekhov’s
works. Like Chekhov, Durang unburdens himself from the need to diagram plot
points and instead explores the mundane, human life. This Chekhovian tale,
however, is laugh out loud hysterical. (I suppose that’s not entirely fair,
since Chekhov was funny; this is just a bigger, broader type of humor.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9UmQJpIsvkhXajVzHX8PMenD283Di9Yosvha_a94L5h-hXIw-gOsxKgxeTnD9tRPJbNJjmeZmpbTWFWbUQ_u1ddYr8L-_J6DX7ZT_rqPe9mBqipNzj1MgPLRuCHoRNoy7chaF4RMZDvF/s1600/DavidHydePierce.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5LT9ar1RncrF5BkxlKwQWZbFTHAL8SFB1yAsgESVQVxDVabr1t30CkYCR0z3XV2jZ4kkO96odsWjRG9NPM1aGKYKzX9n8UtUO6FgU_ZVX0W9KZmvrv-i4xrgj9eWY_iKlTdoBOvvlDMM/s1600/KristineNielsen.jpg)
To learn more about the show and to purchase tickets, visit
vanyasoniamashaspike.com.
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