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    The Cherry Orchard
    The Cherry Orchard
    The Cherry Orchard
    Audiobook1 hour

    The Cherry Orchard

    Written by Anton Chekhov, Frank Dwyer and Nicholas Saunders

    Narrated by Marsha Mason, Hector Elizondo and Full Cast

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance starring:
    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
    John Chardiet as Yasha
    Tim DeKay as Pyotr Sergeyevich Trofimov
    John Chardiet as Passer-By

    Translated and adapted by Frank Dwyer and Nicholas Saunders. Directed by Rosalind Ayres. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherL.A. Theatre Works
    Release dateJan 1, 2001
    ISBN9781580814300
    Author

    Anton Chekhov

    Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, in southern Russia, and in his youth paid for his own education and supported his entire family by writing short, satirical sketches of Russian life. Though he eventually became a physician and once considered medicine his principal career, he continued to gain popularity and praise as a writer for various Russian newspapers, eventually authoring more literary work and ultimately his most well-known plays, including Ivanov, The Seagull, and Uncle Vanya. He died of tuberculosis in 1904, and is regarded as one of the best short story writers in history, influencing such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, and Raymond Carver.

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    Reviews for The Cherry Orchard

    4/5

    52 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great , I enjoyed the performances I could definitely feel the dedication of the actors to bring in this life
    • 2/5
      De Kersentuin draait in wezen om de komst van het moderne, om verandering. Kracht van Tsjechov is montage, van gevoel naar gevoel, voor alles uitgesproken is, vb gebruik pauzes. Omstreden: drama of komedie, naturalistische of symbolische lectuur
    • 5/5
      This play is different every time I read it. When I was younger and still believed that my family's land would continue to be passed down the generations, it was tragic; when I had learned about the Japanese word "aware" it was beautiful; when I had learned something about how easily even clever women fall into traps and call them love, I wanted to believe somehow that Lyuba's generosity meant something anyway; as a young person of business I feared becoming Lopakhin with his, as it seemed to me, idealistic excuses for exploitation no different from those of the old aristocracy; after a few years of good fortune I looked less pityingly on old Pishtchik, whose attitude really isn't so absurd, though he may not be a gifted accountant.Through this reading, though, all I could think about was Firs saying "They knew some way in those days.... They've forgotten. Nobody remembers how to do it." And I look out the window at people who don't remember when shoes were supposed to last more than one season, lenders weren't allowed to charge 25%, growing food wasn't just a health craze but a normal way of life, books didn't cost $10 plus a special $180 decoder gizmo that would be outmoded in a year - and I think about all the people my age who have no idea how to run a business or why it would be desirable to own land - and I think it may not be the cherry orchard, but the Firs of this world, the ones who remember good sense and precaution, the ones who knew their ancestors' knowledge, we must fear most to lose.
    • 1/5
      totally waste of tym
      worst app
      asking for payment only allowed a short portion to read
    • 4/5
      Having already read Chekhov's Ivanov, I founded myself comparing the two as a bit and enjoying this play more. It's about a family who is losing their wealth and needs to sell their cherry orchard, and I thought that was much more relatable than the story of Ivanov.The one thing that I really enjoyed about this play was the sense of memory that I got while I was reading it. I think Chekhov did a good job of showing why this place was important to the family. I got a sense that there was a lot of sorrow about losing the orchard, but in some ways he very much incorporated the hope for the future which I enjoyed. Overall I'd say it's a really good story about family and we hold certain places dear to us. My only complaint is that at times the names got a bit confusing.
    • 1/5
      Another example of how I'm usually disappointed when I listen to something that other people consider great, but which does not a priori sound appealing.This probably reveals me as a philistine, but I just couldn't found much of value in this. We have a bunch of upper-class Russian twits who think the world owes them a living, who do absolutely nothing of value to anyone, not even things of abstract value like art or science, and who are bitterly disappointed when the tragedy that everyone has been warning them about for years finally arrives and no deus ex machina saves them. The only character in the play I had the remotest sympathy for was the student who tells them to their faces that they are parasites and that their day is over, not that his warnings are heeded.Maybe this play is viewed in the same way as Gone with the Wind nostalgia --- everyone who pines for this better simpler way of life assumes that for some reason they're going to be part of the aristrocracy in this alternate world, not one of the lower classes.
    • 3/5
      Poor money management forces a family to sell its property including a large cherry orchard. Before closing the property, however, everyone returns to bid each other farewell. Comedic moments include a man who is totally obsessed with billiards and a bittersweet moment when they leave and lock in the old, faithful retainer. Job-lot!
    • 3/5
      I fell asleep twice while reading this play (and it's not that long). It felt so choppy, like there were 10 different conversations going on at the same time, none of them related. My interest picked up in the second half though, and I liked the ending. I'd love to experience this on stage and see if I came away with a better opinion of it.
    • 2/5
      saw Anette Benning and Alfred Molin star in this play. not Chekhov's best but good times.
    • 4/5
      A sad, sentimental play filled with frustrated romance and financial problems.The edition that I read (Cambridge Literature) had a study guide and resource notes in the back, which I would definitely recommend reading before you venture into this short, yet complicated, play.The symbolism enriches the play very deeply.I love Russian literature, and this is the first work of Russian theater I have read.Great play.
    • 5/5
      This is a great edition; it has a short but thorough bio of Chekhov, an intro with some basic interpretation, and great notes throughout based on letter the author wrote to some of the original productions' principals.
    • 4/5
      Chekhov is always someone I grapple with from time to time before deciding what I really think of the play. This was good, but mildly pointless. I didn't feel changed or moved by reading it, and I wonder about what seeing it would have changed. It certainly would have a different feel to it in production than it did in reading.
    • 2/5
      De Kersentuin draait in wezen om de komst van het moderne, om verandering. Kracht van Tsjechov is montage, van gevoel naar gevoel, voor alles uitgesproken is, vb gebruik pauzes. Omstreden: drama of komedie, naturalistische of symbolische lectuur
    • 2/5
      I found it difficult to sympathize with any of the characters, even Lubov who had the most tragic background. As a tale of the decline of Russian nobility and rising of the former serfs into middle class, it was fairly effective but not entertaining. Perhaps I would like a stage production more...
    • 3/5
      Nope.No likeable characters whatsoever, with a plot that I couldn't bring myself to care about at all. Gah.