The Present
Three hours, with one intermission
The Present - 2017 Broadway History , Info & More
Ethel Barrymore Theatre (Broadway)
243 West 47th St. New York, NY
Variously known as Platonov, Wild Honey, Fatherlessness and The Disinherited, Anton Chekhov's untitled first play was not discovered until 1920, some 16 years after the playwright's death.
Andrew Upton's adaptation is set post-Perestroika in the mid-1990s at an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of the independent but compromised widow Anna Petrovna (Blanchett). At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov (Roxburgh) with his wife, his former students and friends and their partners. They may appear comfortable, but boiling away inside is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fuelled by twenty years of denial, regret and thwarted desire.
PREVIEW The Present - 2017 - Broadway
Photos
Videos
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR The Present
'The Present,' or, Cate Blanchett's Explosive Birthday Weekend
7 / 10
Fireworks, here, are both metaphorical and literal: Halfway through the three-hour drama, the sensual leading lady detonates the countryside summer house where much of the first act has transpired. 40 ... it's the new 14? An adaptation by Andrew Upton, who is Blanchett's husband, 'The Present' arrives at The Barrymore Theatre with its original Australian cast intact. Anna's foil, Mikhail, a childhood friend and former paramour, is played by Richard Roxburgh, who may be best known to American audiences from Baz Luhrmann's 'Moulin Rouge.'
'The Present': Theater Review
7 / 10
The entire company of 13 has been with the production since it debuted in Sydney in 2015, and that commitment shows both in the depth of the individual characterizations and the sparks of their interactions. While there's not a weak link in the ensemble, I particularly enjoyed McKenzie's increasingly single-minded Sophia; Prior, bringing puppy-dog devotion to Sasha; Jacobs' wistful Alexei; Marshall Napier, amusing as the boozehound father of Sasha and Nikolai; and Ryan as Sergei, a meek, uninteresting man painfully aware of his own dullness. Weaving together these characters and their hollow lives in a context that connects them both to Chekhov's Russia and to our own uncertain world, Upton, Crowley and this accomplished company have elevated a problematic play into something unexpectedly satisfying.
Category
The Present History
Other Productions of The Present
| 2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
The Present - 2017 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Cate Blanchett |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Cate Blanchett |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Cate Blanchett |
Videos