The Present NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (265)
See it if you want to see Checkov in a modern style with great actors (I do recommend reading the history of this play first just in case).
Don't see it if you don't want to see a 3 hour play or have the patience to LISTEN carefully to non-American accents. Or want to see HAMILTON.
See it if you like Chekhov. Cate Blanchett is incredible - see it for her. It's a dark comedy character piece. If that sounds like you, see it!
Don't see it if you are looking for something easily digestible. There are a lot of characters to introduce and it gets a little confusing.
See it if You have enjoyed Andrew Upton's adaptations in the past, do well with foreign accents and enjoy the plotlines of Chekhov.
Don't see it if You dislike re-configured Chekhov, don't like to decipher accents and don't like punk music!
See it if you enjoy the meandering slow burn of Chekhov sprinkled with Australian humour and acting talents.
Don't see it if you can't abide slow-starting plays and lots of rambling dialogue.
See it if You like shows with ensemble casts and multiple characters. That stay true to their central theme and source material
Don't see it if You like shows that are family oriented and big on set design or elaborate costumes.
See it if you want to see a group of expert actors in a well-constructed play of historical theatrical significance.
Don't see it if You don't like nearly 3 hour long talky plays that may not have a message that will resonate with you or transport you.
See it if You're a fan of Cate Blanchett. You're a fan of Chekhov's plays in various forms. You want to see great actors doing a great piece of work.
Don't see it if You're not into drama and tension. You don't want to see Russian plays. You want a resolved plot, or a linear plot (one part is confusing).
See it if You like good acting and good staging with an element of surprise
Don't see it if You too much drinking is offensive Read more
Critic Reviews (60)
"It would be possible—and extremely pleasurable—to spend most of the three hours at 'The Present' just watching Cate Blanchett...As mesmerizing as she is, however, it would be a serious mistake to consider 'The Present' a star vehicle...This is dazzling ensemble theater, partnering Blanchett with the sly and thrilling Richard Roxburgh...There isn’t a whiff of gimmickry in director John Crowley’s leisurely, bawdy, poignant production."
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"Upton’s updating here of Chekhov's first play creates incongruities...Blanchett is a living, winning wonder of the stage, and employing her native Australian accent, brings a compelling sense of a widow who can see her chances of happiness slipping away...She is surrounded by a cast of ace Australian actors, including the fine Richard Roxburgh as Platonov. John Crowley's carefully calibrated production takes its time but rewards the attention."
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"Uproarious, fast, and funny...Blanchett is transfixing, utterly in command of the stage...Tonally, the lightning shifts from humor to pathos to profundity in this scene is the register of the production as a whole, and sometimes that can be discombobulating...If you don’t acclimatize to these stylistic tinkerings, you may find yourself lost...But Blanchett, Roxburgh and their fellows anchor the shift in mood ably as it fades to sad silence."
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"This early (early) work of Chekhov is given a cheeky translation by Upton, tossing in a specific modern setting and a lot of verve...The cast — led by Blanchett in fine form — keys into Upton’s tone and jazzes it up...Director John Crowley keeps things moving apace...Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh have chemistry to burn...It amounts to very little when all is said and done...This is far inferior Chekhov presented with a sense of fun and when you expect so little, that’s quite a relief."
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"Crowley largely succeed in salvaging two and a half hours of broad, rambunctious comedy. Underlying that achievement is the lively vernacular of Upton’s dialogue, which sounds consistently fresh in the mouths of the all-Australian cast while preserving the original’s mordant spirit...Upton and Crowley err, however, by shifting the story to Russia just after the collapse of communism. For the characters’ struggles are all personal rather than political."
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"If at times illuminated with an item of bold lingerie or sniping remark, most of the color in director John Crowley’s frenzied, engaging production comes from the party balloons...Blanchett’s diva-like—a woman in increasingly desperate straits, who yet somehow never seems like a desperate woman...Crowley keeps things moving quickly, given the number of connections he’s obliged to juggle. 'The Present' is ultimately more coherent than this season’s earlier Chekhov offering."
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"A thoroughly excellent Australian ensemble cast…The external circumstances aren’t terribly important to the story, but they’re resonant…If Chekhov wasn’t yet able to marshal his blooming, many-faceted gifts, Upton and director John Crowley shape and sharpen the material into a slowly percolating, soul-tugging, and brightly sparkling tour-de-force. Blanchett’s Anna is as complex a lost soul as Broadway is likely to host this season…Roxburgh is just as compelling."
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"Blanchett entices audiences to Broadway's Barrymore Theatre and with Roxburgh's magnetic energy, she keeps them there. Without them and the stellar Sydney Theatre Company cast, Chekhov's first play may still be in the safe-deposit box...Despite the fine production values and outstanding performances by Blanchett and Roxburgh, three hours of this muddled, interminable tragicomedy is not much more than a first draft of Chekhov's later well-formed theatrical visions of Russian society."
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