Review Roundup: A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY Opens Off-Broadway - All the Reviews!

Classic Stage Company welcomes Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister on HBO's Game of Thrones) and Taylor Schilling (Piper Chapman on Netflix's Orange Is The New Black) in Ivan Turgenev's A Month in the Country, opening tonight, January 29, for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 22. A Month in the Country is directed by Erica Schmidt.

Also in the cast are Golden Globe-winner Anthony Edwards ("ER"), Annabella Sciorra ("The Sopranos") and Tony Award-winner Elizabeth Franz (Death of A Salesman, Brighton Beach Memoirs), alongside Peter Appel, Ian Etheridge, Mike Faist, James Joseph O'Neil, Elizabeth Ramos, Thomas Jay Ryan, Frank Van Putten and Megan West.

A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY chronicles the comic and erotic turmoil that befalls an otherwise quiet country estate when a handsome young tutor arrives to teach Natalya Petrovna's young son. But it is Natalya who soon becomes interested in a tutelage of another kind, much to the consternation of her husband and her long suffering friend, Rakitin, who is hopelessly and secretly smitten with her.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: "A Month in the Country" feels like a week in the gulag -- or perhaps I should say a stint in a minimum-security prison? -- in the Classic Stage Company's listless staging of Ivan Turgenev's melancholy comedy of romantic misalliances and infatuations...While both [actors] may bring some luster to the box office...they don't do much to enliven the director Erica Schmidt's torpid staging of this delicate play...there's so little texture to the acting here that the passions stirring inside the characters remain opaque or are indicated in overly blunt outline...Ms. Schilling glides across the surfaces of her character's turbulent emotions...as if smoothly switching gears on a bicycle...Mr. Dinklage's Rakitin, on the other hand, registers as a noble blank. A certain hunger for the affections Natalya was in the habit of bestowing on him flickers occasionally in Mr. Dinklage's piercing eyes. But for the most part Rakitin seems like a disinterested bystander at the destruction of the fragile romantic equilibrium he's spent years establishing with Natalya.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: There are touching moments and classy performances in Classic Stage Company's greatly condensed production...John Christopher Jones' ambitious translation has reduced the play from five hours to two, which, combined with Erica Schmidt's uneven direction, creates a near-farcical pace that necessarily eclipses some complex psychological nuances and fluidity of language...Taylor Schilling...makes her New York stage debut, portraying the married Natalya with a compelling fierceness that sometimes lacks subtlety. Natalya should elicit sympathy as a touchingly humorous and pitiably desperate figure, yet Schilling's willful manner and often inscrutable expression preclude much audience empathy. Peter Dinklage...is mature and expressive as Natalya's love-struck friend, Rakitin. His haunted face provides a moving contrast to the polite generalities his resentful character articulates...CSC's production may be lacking in delicate shadings, but it's an attractive presentation containing worthy theatrical nuggets.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: Yes, there's marquee value in the appearances by Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black) and Anthony Edwards (ER). But this buoyantly entertaining production expertly mines the work for all its humor and pathos, its psychological insights into the human condition having preceded Chekhov by several decades...Performed in an accessible and vibrant new translation by veteran character actor John Christopher Jones, the play streamlined to a briskly paced running time of slightly more than two hours sparkles under the direction of Erica Schmidt. Among the well-honed ensemble, the standout is Dinklage (Schmidt's real-life spouse), who brings an aching ferocity to the desperate Rakitin. In addition to garnering frequent laughs with his acerbically comic line readings, he's deeply moving when conveying his character's anguish over being ignored by the object of his affections...Schilling, making her New York stage debut, acquits herself nicely in a role previously played onstage by such luminaries as Uta Hagen and Helen Mirren...she well conveys Natalya's flighty emotionalism, her hair literally becoming undone when finally allowed to indulge her romantic longings.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: Although Natalya's nuanced emotions register on Schilling's expressive features like flashes of white-heat lighting, Rakitin's misery imprints itself like an indelible tattoo on Dinklage's face. Is it cruelty or the insensitivity of narcissism that makes her so oblivious to his pain? Turgenev must have been a little in love with his capricious heroine, given the almost obsessive attention he pays to her erratic but fascinating psychology. For poor Rakitin, he has nothing but compassion. Helmer Erica Schmidt...takes an intimate approach to her two leads, setting up their one-on-one scenes like closeups. While this tactic extracts an extremely soulful performance from Dinklage, whose huge, suffering eyes follow Natalya's every move, and an extremely animated one from the vivacious Schilling, it tends to undercut the play's ensemble framework.

Adam Feldman, Time Out NY: In Erica Schmidt's brisk, absorbing revival at Classic Stage Company, Schilling brings disarming warmth to a potentially chilly character, and there is great depth of field in the ensemble cast (which includes Elizabeth Franz, Annabella Sciorra and the exceptional Thomas Jay Ryan as a deceptively jovial doctor). A shimmering back wall of trompe l'oeil birch trees contrasts with the spare playing space of Mark Wendland's set: You notice the ceiling, and so do the self-deprecating characters. In this modern-souled production, they're acutely aware of their limits and place, even when they yearn to run for the woods.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: Orange's unlikely convict Piper Chapman may occupy a very different sphere, but the beautiful, bored Natalya is in some ways a prisoner herself -- of an effete upper class, a rigid upbringing, her own conflicting impulses...Yet...Erica Schimdt (Dinklage's wife) doesn't offer an abundance of humor or heat. The actors, or many of them, don't so much engage us as invite us to study their characters; that distinction can be made jarring by the intimacy of the staging, which has the players addressing the audience at points (a common feature at this cozy venue). Dinklage...seems to exaggerate Rakitin's self-consciousness, so that some of his lines, particularly to Natalya, have a practiced feel. But the performance becomes more passionate and moving as Rakitin reveals the depths of his frustration. Schilling brings more immediate warmth to her part. Natalya may speak of her chilliness to others; but the actress's natural vitality leaks through from the start, so that this repressed wife earns and sustains our empathy, however selfish or destructive her behavior.

Robert Kahn, NBC New York: Love is out of reach for everyone in the Classic Stage Company's first-rate revival of "A Month in the Country"...Schilling, making her New York stage debut, is excellent as a woman who surprises herself with the lengths she'll go to in order to attract handsome instructor Aleksey (Mike Faist of "Newsies"), who appears immune to her charms. As the friend-zoned pal, Dinklage brings frustration and insight to the stage...It was most fun to watch Thomas Jay Ryan ("The Temperamentals") as Shpigelsky, the by his-own-counts mediocre doctor who sets out to marry off Vera to a local buffoon for his own selfish gains. Ryan is exceptionally well cast as a character who gets what he wants without concern for how foolish he looks in the process.

Matt Windman, AM New York: The production, directed by Erica Schmidt, is only intermittently engaging, and that can be blamed on a perplexing scenic design, a disappointing performance from Schilling and the fact that the play simply does not hold up very well. Perhaps it would come alive in a stronger, smarter staging, but here it feels just dull...Schilling, though terrific in her Netflix series, is ill at ease in a period piece like this, and uncomfortably sticks out compared to other cast members that match the play's style. She often seems tenuous, lacking basic stage presence...Dinklage is fine, providing a heartfelt turn that is very different from his work on "Game of Thrones," but his character is essentially just a bystander.

Barbara Hoffman, New York Post: ...the "Orange Is the New Black" star makes a luminous New York stage debut, running through a rainbow of emotions -- lust, despair, elation, rage -- in nearly as many gowns: lemon yellow, pale blue, seafoam green, ivory. And appearing with her is Peter Dinklage...Given that kind of star power in this intimate a theater -- plus the cast's tendency to break the fourth wall and talk directly to you -- you'd expect this to be one transfixing night of Turgenev. But Erica Schmidt's production is only passingly passionate, fitfully funny and more than a little distant...Oddly, the play's funniest moments belong to Shpigelsky, who courts Annabella Sciorra's subdued Lizaveta the governess by assuring her that "not all my patients die." It's moments like those -- plus Dinklage's anguished eyes meeting yours, and Schilling's raw beauty -- that will stick with you.

Brendan Lemon, Financial Times: Blonde and model-tall, Schilling comes across less as Russian cougar than as a beautiful chatelaine availing herself of the help. However, as much as one wants to admire Schilling for choosing Month...for her New York stage debut, one must wonder at the wisdom of the selection. The character's alterations in mood are treacherous for even the most experienced of performers...As usual with this comedy, it is the blunt characters who bring the proceedings to life. Thomas Jay Ryan is a particular delight as the country doctor, Shpigelsky. Dinklage offers a sonorous speaking voice and fine physical bearing.

Fern Siegel, The Huffington Post: Director Erica Schmidt keeps the pace brisk and elicits good performances from her cast. Actors often speak directly to the audience, making the production more intimate. Of special note are the scenes between West and Faist, who embody all the openness and anxiety of youth. The heartache of love, whether unrequited or misconstrued, takes residence in A Month in the Country.

Check back in the AM for updates!

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

To post a comment, you must register and login.