Orlando
cast list
Annika Boras, Francesca Faridany, David Greenspan, Tom Nelis, Howrd Overshown
directed by
Rebecca Taichman
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There are many splendid elements to be found in Sarah Ruhl's beautifully flawed new adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando, now playing at Classic Stage Company under the direction of Rebecca Taichman. Possessing, as the novel possessed, great flights of descriptive fancy, the material seems a natural fit for Ruhl, who crafts rambling, loosely structured scenes from Woolf's modernist prose, providing an excellent star vehicle for androgynous leading lady Francesca Faridany.
Faridany, perhaps the best reason to see Orlando, possesses a fantastically open spirit. Transforming over the course of the piece from the embodiment manhood to the embodiment of womanhood, Faridany has the vocal intonations and bodily poise needed to straddle sexes and excel on either side of the gender line.
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Fortunately, she's matched by a uniformly able company which includes, among others, veteran queer actor David Greenspan, who impresses in a variety of roles, most notable of which is Queen Elizabeth I, one of Orlando's early mentors. Annika Boras is also fantastic as Sasha, a Russian princess who holds the young Orlando's rapt attention.
Though Ruhl's interpretation of the piece is nobly done, however, and beautifully produced with the help of contributions from scenic designer Allen Moyer and costume designer Anita Yavich, there's a difficult-to-shake sense that Orlando is a story that isn't quite meant for the stage.
Heavy on descriptive passages and short on truly thrilling sequences, Orlando, which runs a mere two hours, seems somehow overlong because of its lack of real, juicy drama. Though Faridany impresses, she surpasses the material she's given. Though the lyrical beauty of Woolf's words are still on display, the theatrical presentation of Woolf's vision occasionally veers more toward the realm of audiobook than it does toward theatrical daring.
As the second half of the piece progresses and Orlando's womanhood takes the forefront, the piece begins to darken and grows infinitely more complex. Issues of women's rights and being comfortable in one's body are raised and provide us with morsels of thoughts to consider. Ruhl's script, which is enhanced by the contributions of choreographer Annie-B Parson, shimmers with a linguistic quality that ought to evoke more feeling than it does.
Beautiful words do not a successful play make, as is all too obvious from Classic Stage Company's top notch production of Ruhl's take on Woolf's classic book. Fortunately, there are still hints of what could have been to whet our theatrical appetites at least in part. Something thrilling could have resulted from this creative endeavor had Ruhl been forced to push outside her comfort zone, and it's unfortunate that Orlando isn't a work of even more remarkable beauty than it is.
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New York reviews
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Pieces, 59E59 Theaters
A Delicate Balance, Yale Repertory Theatre
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The Scottsboro Boys, Lyceum Theatre
Driving Miss Daisy, Golden Theatre
Futura, TBG Theatre
La Bete, The Music Box Theatre
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
A Life in the Theatre, Schoenfeld Theatre
In Transit, 59E59 Theaters
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