THEATER REVIEW : ‘The Sisters’ Takes a Dramatic Turn

In “The Sisters,” the new play at the Pasadena Playhouse, Richard Alfieri has updated Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” to present-day Manhattan. He’s updated it to the point where Masha, now Marcia, sneeringly refers to her sister-in-law, Nancy, as “that low-life bitch.” And that’s one of her milder phrases.

So much for Chekhov’s delicacy, his aversion to cheap dramatics. In “The Sisters,” Marcia is so crass so often that it’s hard to understand why her sensibilities are violated by Nancy, the shop-girl interloper. Fine distinctions are lost, or else Alfieri believes that memories of the original Masha will come through and help out.

Still, the playwright’s riff on the original is interesting, if mostly in a theoretical sense. In Chekhov, the three sisters suffered through the disappointments of their provincial life by longing to go to Moscow, the vibrant city of their youth. In Alfieri, the sisters live in New York, so it’s not vibrancy they lack. Irene, the youngest, longs to return to the family homestead in Charleston, S.C., mainly to escape the turbulence of her constantly bickering siblings. That change works nicely.

Further, Alfieri has performed an interesting thought experiment--albeit one that suffers from a heavily applied checklist of contemporary ills. If you were going to assign modern problems to the three sisters, it makes a kind of fascinating sense that Irina (now Irene) would be addicted to crystal meth, that Masha would have been molested by their father and that Olga (still Olga) would turn out to be a closeted lesbian.

Alfieri has tried to preserve something of the original Russian flavor--the philosophizing, the characters’ penchant for baring souls--by setting the play in a faculty lounge of a college where virtually all of the characters teach. Handsomely designed by Gary Wissmann in dark cherry wood, the imposing pit-stop of academia is the perfect setting for characters who love to talk. The trouble is, what they say is often silly.

Under Arthur Allan Seidelman’s direction, “The Sisters” remains a pony trick, a weird hybrid of Chekhov and “Days of Our Lives.” As Marcia, the character Alfieri has most focused on, Meg Foster is an arresting cross between Lauren Bacall and Kirstie Alley. She’s a woman who can’t help but make herself the center of every human interaction. But Foster exacerbates the play’s tendency toward melodrama with a hyperventilating, though at times funny, performance.

Charlotte Ross gives the most unforced performance as Irene, whom everyone coddles and who deeply resents being coddled despite her sweet nature. She changes effortlessly from Pollyanna to Jodie Foster in “Taxi Driver,” and back. Whenever a bitter fight erupts, which is frequently, she eases into a stupor by playing a sonata on the piano. Ross seems to live the part instead of playing it, the mark of what Chekhov believed made a valid performance.

Craig Wasson is also unforced and convincingly sad as the brother, Andrew, a man surrounded by and drowning in powerful women. He betrays his sisters in a vain attempt to get free of them. As the idle old doctor who sits around reading the tabloids and commenting on the violence in society, Pat Corley creates an interesting figure on the periphery of the sisters’ lives, although he is a tad too avuncular and kindly to be fully drawn. As Marcia’s lover, Vincent, Tony Musante seems uncomfortable with his character’s savoir-faire; he is an image consultant and semi-pro seducer.

When wooing Marcia, Vincent notes that we all adopt certain mannerisms but that our true nature lies within. As with much of “The Sisters,” his sentiment approximates Chekhov without getting the nuance quite right and without creating an entirely new character who can stand on his own two feet.

* “The Sisters,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 5 and 9 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 20. $11.50-$33.50. (818) 356-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Paul Regina: Gary Sokol Pat Corley: Dr. Chebrin Matthew Letscher: David Turzin Meg Foster: Marcia Prior Glass Season Hubley: Olga Prior Tony Musante: Vincent Antonelli Craig Wasson: Andrew Prior Pamela Sam Nancy Pecket Charlotte Ross Irene Prior Alan Feinstein Harry Glass Jamie Forehand Nurse A production of the Pasadena Playhouse in association with JWP Entertainment International and NYS Corp. and Carolyn Gould. By Richard Alfieri. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. Sets by Gary Wissmann. Lights by Kevin Mahan. Costumes by Dawna Oak. Sound by Frederick W. Boot. Production stage manager Tami Toon.