UNCLE VANYA 2024 Broadway Reviews

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:57am

Steve Carell, Jonathan Hadary, William Jackson Harper, Jayne Houdyshell, Spencer Donovan Jones, Mia Katigbak, Alfred Molina, Alison Pill, and Anika Noni Rose star in the revival from a new translation by Heidi Schreck, with direction by Lila Neugebauer.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 8:58pm

NY Stage Review

 

UNCLE VANYA: DISORIENTED SCENES FROM A COUNTRY LIFE

By Melissa Rose Bernardo

★★☆☆☆ Chekhov’s oft-produced tragicomedy gets a misfire of a revival at Lincoln Center

https://nystagereview.com/2024/04/24/uncle-vanya-disoriented-scenes-from-a-country-life/

 

UNCLE VANYA: ANTON CHEKHOV’S UPDATED BORED FOLKS MORE BORING THAN NEED BE

By David Finkle

★★☆☆☆ Steve Carell, Alfred Molina, Alison Pill, Anika Noni Rose in Heidi Schreck's new translation, directed by Lila Neugebauer

https://nystagereview.com/2024/04/24/uncle-vanya-anton-chekhovs-updated-bored-folks-more-boring-than-need-be/

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:01pm

Deadline is mostly positive:

‘Uncle Vanya’ Broadway Review: Steve Carell Sets Up Office In Chekhov Territory

https://deadline.com/feature/broadway-show-reviews-spring-2024-1235866317/

"Steve Carell makes a solid Broadway debut in a fine, if not overly inspired, new revival of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Smoothly adapted by What The Constitution Means To Me playwright Heidi Schreck and elegantly directed by Lila Neugebauer (demonstrating once again, after this season’s excellent Appropriate, a kinetic crossing-guard facility for keeping large-ish casts moving on spacious sets), this Lincoln Center Theater production places Chekhov’s tale of wasted lives and tenuous optimism amidst a contemporary setting."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:03pm

NYT is mixed

Review: Steve Carell as the 50-Year-Old Loser in a Comic ‘Uncle Vanya’

Sleek, lucid, amusing, often beautiful, it’s Chekhov with everything, except the main thing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/theater/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carell.html

"If all this works well as light comedy, the ideal Chekhov balance may require something heavier as ballast. I don’t just mean a heavier central performance, one that believably builds to the famous attempt at violence in Act III, and suffers its full consequences.

It may also be that Schreck — with the keen ear for unimpeded flow she demonstrated in “What the Constitution Means to Me,” on Broadway in 2019 — has wiped the text too clean of the specifics and formalities that can provide useful resistance. She sets the play nowhere and at no time in particular: The cottage in Finland the professor wants to buy becomes, in this version, an unmapped “beach house”; money is measured in what sounds like contemporary dollars, yet there are (thank God) no cellphones.

These small decisions — and the production’s big ones, too — make sense individually. Collectively, they add up to a lovely evening in the theater. That’s not a backhanded compliment. But I have a feeling that if Chekhov heard “Uncle Vanya” described that way, well, he’d never stop moping."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:05pm

2 1/2 stars from NY Post

‘Uncle Vanya’ review: Steve Carell’s Broadway play is funny, not feeling

https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/entertainment/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carells-broadway-play-is-funny-not-feeling/

"the talented Carell, who, making his Broadway debut, turns out to be a splendid theater actor who is shrewdly cast as the bitter rural Russian.

But the audience’s three-camera sit-com chuckle does reveal this “Vanya”’s chief shortcoming straightaway. While the production has got the jokes down pat, it is quite a bit shakier when it comes to the pathos and hardship that spring from them. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:07pm

The Wrap:

‘Uncle Vanya’ Broadway Review: Steve Carell Now Plays a 47-Year-Old Virgin

The actor makes his New York stage debut in a revival of the Chekhov classic that’s much more comedy than tragedy

https://www.thewrap.com/uncle-vanya-broadway-review-steve-carell/

"Carell’s everyman screen persona works well in this American take on Chekhov. All in all, it’s a very lively and funny comedy. A tragedy, however, this “Uncle Vanya” is not. All these characters will go on with their boring lives after the final curtain falls and not be terribly upset about it. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:08pm

The Guardian:

Four stars

Uncle Vanya review – Steve Carell leads excellent cast in Chekhov reimagining

Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York

The star makes a convincing Broadway debut in a tragicomic winner staged with thought and deft flashes of modernity

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/apr/24/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carell

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:09pm

Theatrely:

Steve Carell Is A Sad Clown UNCLE VANYA In A New Broadway Revival — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/steve-carell-is-a-sad-clown-uncle-vanya-in-a-new-broadway-revival-review

"What was the guiding light for Schreck and Neugebauer in tackling Vanya? Based on what’s now on stage at the Beaumont, it’s difficult to say. This revival is competent, rarely boring and often funny, but there is no sense of a larger vision. This staging just kind of sits there, without any clear reason to exist. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:09pm

Variety:

‘Uncle Vanya’ Review: Steve Carell Fits Seamlessly Into a Stellar Ensemble in a Gorgeous Broadway Revival

https://variety.com/2024/legit/reviews/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carrell-broadway-1235980718/

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:10pm

Sara Holdren isn't a fan- "one of the least sexy Vanyas I've ever seen" 

https://www.vulture.com/article/uncle-vanya-steve-carell-heidi-schreck.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:11pm

B- from Entertainment Weekly

Steve Carell and William Jackson Harper wallow in misery in Uncle Vanya

https://ew.com/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carell-william-jackson-harper-wallow-in-misery-8637350

"Carell’s presence will no doubt invite fans of The Office and his other works to the theater, and they won’t be disappointed: he certainly earns his laughs as Vanya buries his pain, pokes fun at his companions, chases after a lost love. Though the bitterness boiling beneath the piece may catch them off guard, Neugebauer and Schreck have crafted an especially accessible adaptation, for better or worse."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:12pm

Theatermania is mixed:

Review: Steve Carell Leads an All-Over-the-Place Uncle Vanya at Lincoln Center Theater

William Jackson Harper, Alfred Molina, and Alison Pill also star in this Chekhov revival at the Beaumont.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-steve-carell-leads-an-all-over-the-place-uncle-vanya-at-lincoln-center-theater_1738133/

"File this one under “it sounded good in theory.” Lincoln Center Theater’s entry to the 2024 Tonys contest is a new production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with a to-die-for assortment of talent. The unpretentious new translation, written by Heidi Schreck of What the Constitution Means to Me, is directed by Lila Neugebauer, also represented this season by her barnstorming production of Appropriate. And among a star-studded ensemble of actors, comedy icon Steve Carell makes his Broadway debut. Vanya is a perfect role for Carell, whose cinematic drollery is often layered with an undercurrent of Chekhovian despondency. But this Uncle Vanya is only enjoyable in fits and starts. It’s modern, but not completely; brisk, while still feeling too long."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:14pm

USA Today:

Broadway review: In Steve Carell’s ‘Uncle Vanya,’ Chekhov’s gun fires blanks

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/04/24/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carell/73412565007/

"Ultimately, this “Uncle Vanya” has all the elements of what should be an electric night of theater, but never excavates new layers of the material nor finds its raison d'être. Instead, we’re left with a perfectly solid production; a loaded firearm that’s only shooting blanks."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:17pm

Daily Beast:

Why Steve Carell Is Not the Star of ‘Uncle Vanya’ on Broadway

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Carell delivers a slightly too muted performance as the title character in this adaptation of Chekhov’s famous play—while William Jackson Harper and Alison Pill shine.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-steve-carell-is-not-the-star-of-uncle-vanya-on-broadway

"There is a lot of ennui, and not much energy—despite the efforts of Harper and Pill. Similarly, Carell’s Vanya is passive to the point of recessive. It is a deliberately muted performance that is too quiet.

Our audience audibly perked up when Carell, thank goodness, got to exercise his comedy chops—and when he too lets loose towards the end. Anika Noni Rose as Elena, Alexander’s wife, desired by both Astrov and Vanya, is beautifully dressed, graceful, and arch, but perhaps too muvh of a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. What and who does she want? Does she feel trapped in her marriage, or calmly resigned? The wonderful Jayne Houdyshell deserves much more to say and do as Maria, Vanya’s mother, as does an underused Spencer Donovan Jones as a neighbor. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:19pm

NY Sun:

With Steve Carell in the Title Role, Chekhov’s Comedic Elements Stand Out in This ‘Uncle Vanya’

Unfortunately, while Carell and many others in the cast offer credible performances, the revival now at Lincoln Center Theater, featuring a new adaptation by Heidi Schreck, fails to live up to other interpretations of the play.

https://www.nysun.com/article/with-steve-carell-in-the-title-role-chekhovs-comedic-elements-stand-out-in-this-uncle-vanya

"Of course, Vanya pines just as desperately, if less successfully, for the younger woman’s affection; in Mr. Carell’s performance, though, his longing can seem less intense, and less sad, than it has with other Vanyas I’ve seen. The leading man is predictably effective when the play, and Ms. Neugebauer, allow him to be more patently buffoonish; when he crawls across a table furiously during Vanya’s climactic showdown with Alexander, the character’s frustration is both accessible and hilarious.

Mr. Carell is, to be fair, credible in bleaker moments; he just never quite breaks our hearts, as anyone playing this defeated man must. That task falls to Ms. Pill, who is cast as the similarly put-upon but less disgruntled Sonia, Vanya’s niece and Alexander’s daughter. The actress shimmers in the part, exuding a girlish buoyancy that leaves us shattered when it is inevitably extinguished. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:21pm

3 stars out of 5/Recommended from TimeOut:

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/uncle-vanya-9

"But because the modernization is more subtractive than additive—old references are pruned away, but few new ones are planted in their place—the characters’ basic decisions seem unmoored from reality. Nothing quite adds up: Why doesn’t this Elena just get a divorce? Why doesn’t this Sonia get a makeover, or try online dating? Why must this family scrimp to support the famous, prolific and presumably tenured professor? In Uncle Vanya’s original setting, the characters are constrained by very real limits, financial and social; here, they seem trapped by authorial mandate—by a shadow fidelity to the mores of a different time and place. Perhaps that explains why this production, despite the talent involved, left me unmoved, and with a nagging question that Vanya might relate to: So much work has gone into this, but what’s it all for?"

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:36pm

DTLI Consensus: Its existence is tedious, anyway: it is a senseless, dirty revival, this Vanya.

9 mixed (including the NYT), 2 negative, 1 positive. 

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/uncle-vanya-bway/

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:42pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Its existence is tedious, anyway: it is a senseless, dirty revival, thisVanya.

9 mixed (including the NYT), 2 negative, 1 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/uncle-vanya-bway/"

Has anything this season gotten worse reviews???

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:47pm

Reviewers in the past few months are really out to get, meow!

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:58pm

I’d say Green’s review had a lot of positive things to say about the production including that it’s an enjoyable evening in the theater. The reviews are all over the place in my opinion.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 10:03pm

Lempicka may be comparable:

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/lempicka/ (2 positive, 5 mixed, 4 negative)

Updated On: 4/25/24 at 10:03 PM

[gibsons2]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 10:17pm

Jarethan said: "Has anything this season gotten worse reviews???"

I don't think it matters. When I went to see this play last week, it was pretty clear why people bought the tickets in the first place, based on the audience reaction to Steve Carell. Alison Pill and William Jackson Parker are exceptional in this play and hope will get recognition during the awards season.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 10:19pm

Variety was v positive, and Green in NYT was mixed but hardly dismissive or harsh. He calls it a fun night out at the theater and says there are a hundred things to like about it. These are better than what I was expecting based on tepid WOM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 10:30pm

I went last night and while I liked it well enough, my friend absolutely loved it. So I wasn’t sure what reviews would look like.
I did kind of stop for a second while watching Carell and Harper, stars of two do the greatest tv shows of all time on stage together and just took a second to recognize how damn cool that was. 

[sppunk]

Posted: 4/24/24 at 11:09pm

It’s quite amazing this season with so many new shows they all basically aren’t good. We have wasted so much money this season on mediocrity, it really makes me question buying tickets for next season before shows open.  And we see 15+ shows each year. 

What a drag of a year. Appropriate, Mary Jane and Merrily not included …