"This frenzied, flashy take on one family’s mortgage crisis may be the most clueless interpretation of Chekhov I have seen. And, yes, that includes high school...It’s impossible to discern a coherent point of view...From the get-go, people are forever falling down, tripping over furniture, breaking things, and, it would seem, forgetting their lines. Yet there’s no spontaneity in their clumsiness, nor any sense of the cast members sharing a common approach."
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“The only question is whether a new frame or filter works on its own terms. And with this thoughtful but often schematic and disjointed 'Cherry Orchard,' the answer is: only in spurts...Godwin works well with several excellent actors…All the actors' bodies are in uncommonly strong dialogue with each other…By stylizing Chekhov's world, the human stakes and basic relationships are drained of power. ‘The Cherry Orchard’ can survive harder ax blows, but this attempt is just so much peeled bark.”
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"No one sets out to under-serve Chekhov. The problem is that all hands must be seeking to serve in the same way. Here that does not appear to be the case...The large Roundabout cast often does well enough giving sharp physical life to individual characters...But, lacking a coherent group style, the ensemble nature of the play feels ragged, as if drastically under-rehearsed...The result feels more like an engaging gloss of 'The Cherry Orchard' rather than the thing itself."
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"The most pointless production of a Chekhov play I’ve ever seen, a stylistic mélange whose ill-fitting parts give the impression of having been hammered together out of three or four different jigsaw puzzles...Karam’s workmanlike new adaptation recasts the play in an unpoetic English that is scabbed over with modern-day slang and given a vulgarizing shot of progressive politics...The acting is noisy and superficial."
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“It takes Chekhov at his word in classifying it as a comedy. Too much so, as it happens, in a mixed-bag of a production that despite some high points, struggles but fails to achieve a consistent tone…Much as I admire Karam’s work, he and Godwin conspire to score some contemporary political points while setting the action in a vague anytime…Too much of the show has a devil-may-care antic quality that not only leaves Lane at sea but also misuses other good actors."
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"Pretty much everything falls flat in the case of the vapid new Broadway revival of Anton Chekhov’s classic tragicomedy about a family on the edge of collapse. Working from a translation by Stephen Karam that’s flecked with modern ties, director Simon Godwin has made some odd choices for this Roundabout revival...More nettlesome are the unfocused tone and superficial ensemble...When a 'Cherry Orchard' works, it can make you laugh and cry. This made me shrug."
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"Diane Lane takes her shot in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of Chekhov’s most beloved play—and proves to be engaging, if not remarkable. Not that anyone really has a chance to shine in director Simon Godwin’s shapeless production...'The Cherry Orchard' normally brings tears and laughter to the coldest of hearts. But there is surprisingly little emotion stirred by this production."
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“In 'The Humans,' Karam balances humor and melancholy with exquisite naturalism. The subtly shaped text is light on narrative but alive with a compassionate sense of very real people...What could be more Chekhovian? That makes the thudding failure of Karam's new version all the more deflating. The bulk of the blame should be apportioned to Godwin's production, which is clumsily directed and unattractively designed...What's missing, primarily, is the fundamental element of pathos."
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