New York City
The Oscar-winning actress makes her Broadway debut in Andrew Upton’s Chekhov adaptation.
Andrew Upton's The Present opens tonight at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theater, starring two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and and Richard Roxburgh. The limited engagement is set to run through Sunday, March 19. Previews began December 17, 2016.
Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn), the production had its world premiere in 2015. Inspired by Anton Chekhov's Platonov, Upton's adaptation is set in the mid-1990s in an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of Anna Petrovna (Blanchett), an independent but compromised widow. At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov (Roxburgh), along with his wife, his former students, and their friends and partners. Boiling away inside their comfortable appearances is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fueled by 20 years of denial, regret, and thwarted desire.
Joining Blanchett and Roxburgh in the cast are members of the original Australian company, Anna Bamford (Maria), Andrew Buchanan (Osip), David Downer (Yegor), Eamon Farren (Kirrill), Martin Jacobs (Alexei), Brandon McClelland (Dimitri), Jacqueline McKenzie (Sophia), Marshall Napier (Ivan), Susan Prior (Sasha), Chris Ryan (Sergei), and Toby Schmitz (Nikolai). Everyone in the cast makes their Broadway debuts.
The production features scenic and costume design by Alice Babidge, lighting design by Nick Schlieper, and sound design and musical compositions by Stefan Gregory.