‘Three Sisters’ Calls Across 20th Century

Ruminating at the dawn of the 20th century, Anton Chekhov’s characters are always asking how their lives will appear to those looking back in a hundred years. At last, we can answer: very familiar--especially when those lives are brought to life with the insight displayed in “Three Sisters” at NoHo’s El Portal Center for the Arts.

A new, subtly Americanized translation and Peter Grego’s intimate, impeccably detailed theater-in-the-round staging evoke the all-important naturalism in Chekhov’s frustrated province-dwellers. The production showcases the enduring appeal in Chekhov’s unsentimental but ultimately affectionate observations on human folly.

How can we think the deepest thoughts and still live the shallowest of lives? That is the central paradox torturing the farm-bound, over-educated Prozorov sisters: schoolteacher Olga (Chera Bashor), idealistic Irina (Christine Mangone) and unhappily married Masha (Cristina Anselmo). With only the soldiers from a local army garrison to help them pass the tedium, the sisters’ dreams of returning to the Moscow of their youth aches with the tragic gulf between the fulfillments we can imagine and those imperfect reality affords us.

Its large cast of characters makes “Three Sisters” an ambitious undertaking under any circumstances, and here unevenness from some performers pushing too hard does impact the rhythm and pace at times. Nevertheless, particularly nuanced performances from Bashor, Anselmo, Carl Strand, Carol Keis, Alan Altshuld and Henry LeBlanc ensure a moving and worthwhile presentation of one of the theater’s greatest works.

* “Three Sisters,” El Portal Center for the Arts, Circle Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m.; this Sunday only, 7 p.m.; June 25, 8 p.m. No matinees June 24 and 25. Ends July 9. $20. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.