The Cherry Orchard

By: Anton Chekhov

Narrated by: Marsha Mason, full cast

Chekhov’s masterful last play, The Cherry Orchard, is a work of timeless, bittersweet beauty about the fading fortunes of an aristocratic Russian family and their struggle to maintain their status in a changing world. Alternately touching and farcical, this subtle, intelligent play stars the incomparable Marsha Mason. Translated and adapted by Frank Dwyer and Nicholas Saunders.

Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

Directed by Rosalind Ayres

Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg

Marsha Mason as Madame Lyubov Andreyevna Ranyevskaya

Hector Elizondo as Leonid Andreyevich Gayev

Michael Cristofer as Yermolay Alekseyevich Lopakhin

Jennifer Tilly as Dunyasha (Avdotya Fyodorovna)

Joey Slotnick as Semyon Panteleyevich Yepikhodov

Christy Keefe as Anya Ranyevskaya

Amy PIetz as Varya Ranyevskaya

Jordan Baker as Charlotta Ivanovna

Jeffrey Jones as Boris Borisovich Semyonov-Pischick

Charles Durning as Feers

Tim DeKay as Pyotr Sergeyevich Trofimov

John Chardiet as Passer-By

Sound Effects Artist/Stage Manager: Jane Slater

Assistant Stage Manager: Cary Thompson

Radio Producer: Raymond Guarna

Associate Producer: Susan Raab

Public Domain (P)2001 L.A. Theatre Works. Produced in association with KCRW. All Rights Reserved.

Not for the Chekov Novice

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really. I couldn't follow the play just listening to it. The complicated Russian names did me in. I went to the library and got the print verson.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Cherry Orchard (Dramatized)?

I really don't have a memorable moment because I kept falling asleep.

What does Marsha Mason and Full Cast bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I did enjoy listening to the recognizable voices.

Was The Cherry Orchard (Dramatized) worth the listening time?

I have listened to many plays by L.A. Theater Works and enjoyed all of them. I enjoyed them more than just reading the play. In this case, the dramatized version didn't work for me.

Any additional comments?

I think it is best to see Chekhov performed on stage. If you are very familiar with this playwright than this audio version might appeal to you.

too hard to follow characters in play format

it was too hard to follow all the characters in the play format. feel I missed something.

Wonderfully Vibrant Production

This audio recording of a performance of "The Cherry orchard" is one of the best productions that i have come across. It brings the play to life in a way that I have not come across in a very long time. It is vibrant, energetic and, moreover, absolutely brilliantly and beautifully acted.

One can occasionally hear the audience laughing in the background, and although one might imagine that this will take away from the experience, it in actual fact enhances it enormously. It really feels as though you are sitting in the theatre, enjoying the play along with many other people (the way that a play is meant to be experienced, in the first place).

Charming

This piece is beautifully acted. Transport yourself back to a time of the last summer spent at the orchard estate of a once wealthy Russian family.
Not raised to deal with the realities of a practical life, this endearing family manages to accept their fate with an aristocratic grace and humour as they are forced to sell their ancestral land.

Acts are in the wrong order

Something has gone wrong: while the whole play in on this recording, the acts are out of sequence. Buy another version.