So many elements of excellence go into the making of Vanya on 42nd Street that it’s amazing they all converge so seamlessly into the whole and don’t become distractions in and of themselves. The movie records a so-called rehearsal performance of director Andre Gregory’s stage play Vanya which was based on Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya as adapted by David Mamet. Okay, got all those elements? This is one of the great Chekhov plays, one that holds up terrifically over the years with its focus on the complicated nature of family relationships that teeter between moments of comedy and tragedy, often in the same instant. The play’s speeches about ecology and land preservation are even more true today than when they were first written a little over 100 years ago in 1889. That this version of the play was adapted by one of the lions of modern theatre, David Mamet, also adds to its contemporary flavor. Director and actor Andre Gregory is probably best recognized by film audiences as the fascinating Andre in My Dinner with Andre. Of course, his dining companion in that 1981 movie was Wallace Shawn who, not coincidentally, appears here in the key role of Vanya. And by now you should be able to guess who directed both these movies — Louis Malle. (And while we’re playing this connect-the-dots game, Shawn’s recent guest appearances on the TV show Murphy Brown, which stars Malle’s wife, Candice Bergen, suddenly make a lot more sense.) Yet all this is trivia. What makes this Vanya performance work is the twist on how it’s staged. The set is bare bones. It is set in the old Ziegfeld Follies theatre on 42nd Street, the New Amsterdam. Idle for years, the theatre’s proper stage cannot even be used because rats have eaten through the pulley ropes above it. Thus, auditorium seating has been yanked out to create a stage, but the audience has to pick up their folding chairs and move around the various sets as scenes change. A bench and a table can be the sum of the set pieces. The minimal props include things like a plastic “I Love New York” drinking cup. Moreover, the actors perform the show in their modern street clothes. Although this is the way Vanya was performed during its New York run, the movie would have us believe that we are only seeing a dress rehearsal. The movie begins with an exterior shot of the company wending their way down 42nd Street toward the theatre. Once inside, we still have the illusion that we are witnessing pre-rehearsal banter when, suddenly, the camera pulls back from its intimate two-shot and we realize that we’re in the midst of the opening act of the play. The camerawork is unobtrusive, yet creative, framing characters just right so that their relationships are clear from their positioning and reactions are not subordinated to action close-ups or speeches. The cast is a knockout, one and all. They performed this show with one another for several years and their real-life camaraderie and bonds extend into their depiction of the Chekhovian family. As is standard in movies by Malle, the soundtrack features a jazz score – this time by sax stylist Joshua Redman. The overall effect of Uncle Vanya on 42nd Street is that one has just experienced something truly timeless.
This article appears in February 10 • 1995 (Cover).
