Chekhov Alters Playhouse Season

Lynn Redgrave will play Madame Ranevskaya in Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” at La Jolla Playhouse May 13 through June 17.

The production will push the previously announced “Twelfth Night” from the season’s opening slot to the closing spot, Oct. 14-Nov. 18.

Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff said he has been talking to director Tom Moore about working in La Jolla since 1984--and he has been talking to Redgrave since 1985. “The Cherry Orchard” was at the top of Moore’s wish list, Redgrave was also interested, and schedules coincided in May.

McAnuff believes a Russian play “that involves startling social changes” is especially appropriate now, as the Soviet Union goes through another round of such changes. But, although he and Moore have talked about the parallels between the two eras “in the abstract,” McAnuff cautioned that they haven’t discussed whether or how the parallels might become more specific on stage.

This will be Moore’s first full-fledged stage assignment since “ ‘night, Mother” at the Taper in 1986 (he directed L.A. Classic Theatre Works’ live radio production of “Once in a Lifetime” in 1987). He has been working primarily in television.