Full Article Text
TI{N
=oz
az3to
aa=Uz
=
oEo
=o
c
o
o
N
@
G
!.9
6
o
5
as "Salvage," the last part of Tom Stop-
pard's massive theater trilogy, opens
at Lincoln Center today, director Jack
O'Brien is flnally starting to believe
he'll reach the end of one of the most
ambitious events in Broadway history.
"I feel like I've raised my head out of
the water and somewhere ahead of me
is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and
I just keep stroking toward the finish line," says O'Brien, who
has been nominated for numerous TonyAwards and won Best
Director twice: In 2003, for helming the musical "Hairspray,"
and in 2004, for the Kevin Kline-led "Henrv IV""It has been a long time We went into
rehearsals on Sept. 6 and I haven't done
mJrthing but this since "
With dozens of characters, Stoppard's
"The Coast of Utopia" trilogy ('Voyage" and
"Shipwreck" are the titles of Parts I md 2)
depicts the rise of the Russian intelligentsia
in the mid-1800s, a group of privileged aris-
tocrats who grapple with philosophy md
love and family squabbles - all under the
watchful, condenning eyes of the serfs who
make their lavish lives possible
First staged in London in 2002, it took
a massive commitment from Lincoln Cen-
ter to make such a gamble possible in New
York Now, the work has been showered
with praise; there's a crush of ticket buyers
yearning to see the cycle all in one day, and
"Salvage" has been extended to May.
The starry cast includes Ethan Hawke,
NOTES FROM ON THE GROUND EthAN HAWKE. MATthA
Plimpton, rennifel Ehle ard Kellie overbey (from
l.) observe a country on the brink of revolutionary
change in 'voyage,' Part 1 of'The coast of Utopia."
TORRENTS OF SPRING Butler Hamilton, Ethan Hawke
and Adam ltannheisser (below. from l.) witness a
wave of yiol€nt upheaval throughout Europe in the
mid-1800s in'shipwreck,' Part 2 of'Utopia.";
o
=
€
Brian E O'Blme, Billy Crudup, Josh Hmil-
ton, Amy lrying, Richad Easton (who
collapsed on stage in October perfoming
a preview of'Voyage" but retumed to the
show several weeks later). Jemifer Eble
md Martha Plimpton (Hawke also worked
with O'Brien on'Henry IVJ
'TVhen people say it's a sacrifice - well,
what does a person who is interested in
acting want lo do with their time?' says
Hawke, the 36-year-old who has been nom-
inated for Oscffi for acting (200I's "Train-
ing Day'') md Miting (2004's "Before Sm-
set') 'A three-part epic on Russim radicals
Mitten by Tom Stoppard and directed by
Jack O'Brien at Lincoln Center - what else
is there that you're hoping for?"
O'Brien agrees. "Let's notjust look at it in
terms of how difficult it hm been or how chal-
lenging it is," says the dilectoi who is work-
ing intenselywith Stoppdd, who h6 contin-
ued to trim md shape md refine the plays
"It has been glorious- - And I'mincredi-
bly gmtefuI md sort of mued that I'm still
standing at the end of this."
For Hawke, who plays the blustery yeam-
ing-for-action revolutiontry Balflnin, this
is tbe culmination of m exceDtional m oftheater work, which includes "Henry M' md
a 2005 revival of David Rabe's "Hulyburly."
"I m't even be objective about Ethan,"
says O'Brien, who had high praise for t}le en-
tire ensemble "Ethm wm the first to com-
mit; he wre the first tumbler to fall, md it all
fell into place Billy cme almost ime-
diately thereafter, and suddenly,
much to my trtonishment, I got
this extraordinary compmy.
"I'Ye seen Ethm grow
since'Heffy ry"' continues
O'Brien- "He's fomidable
I think he has been through
a lot of unhappiness, but it
has tempered him It hasn't
made him bitter and it hdn't
defeated him; it hil enltrged
him He's gol. a seclion in the last
play that is as beautiful as anything I've ever
seen in my life lt's the entire rmge of what
he is as Bakunin md what he is as Ethm,"
Now, rehersals are wer, all three plays
re being perfomed in repertory the casu-
al backstage book club hm moved on from
Tolstoy's "Arna Karenina" to Turgenev's
"Fathers and Sons," and already, it seems,
the May closing of this epiq i5 coming fast"Theater is present tense, in the moment,
as opposed to film which [seems] so much
more nostalgic," says Hawke "People have
this idea that flLm is imortal, that it lives
forever Itjust doesn't If your butt is inthe
seat lat a play] and you're watching some-
thing that's really special, it's special to you
rightnow, this instant - you're not
going to be able to rent it next yeil
sVhenwe do the lilt perfor-
mmce md the €liys come in with
the sledgehmmers md crowbrs
md the garbage bins and stad
iirowing ou set away, it's such
a strmge meditation on death or
something, it's so sad . But the
fact that it's passing makes each
perfommce special."
O'Brien is looking foMild lo a cruise
to Costa Rica before, almost unbelievably,
moving on to motlter trilogy at the Metro-
politan Opera: Puccini's "Il Trittico," a
collection of tlrree one-act works
"This has taken every bit of refinement,
wit, blocking, cheerleading and editing that
I cm possibly muster," says O'Brien- "I don't
know what it's going to be like when I
frnally finish this " a
=oz
az3to
aa=Uz
=
oEo
=o
c
o
o
N
@
G
!.9
6
o
5
as "Salvage," the last part of Tom Stop-
pard's massive theater trilogy, opens
at Lincoln Center today, director Jack
O'Brien is flnally starting to believe
he'll reach the end of one of the most
ambitious events in Broadway history.
"I feel like I've raised my head out of
the water and somewhere ahead of me
is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and
I just keep stroking toward the finish line," says O'Brien, who
has been nominated for numerous TonyAwards and won Best
Director twice: In 2003, for helming the musical "Hairspray,"
and in 2004, for the Kevin Kline-led "Henrv IV""It has been a long time We went into
rehearsals on Sept. 6 and I haven't done
mJrthing but this since "
With dozens of characters, Stoppard's
"The Coast of Utopia" trilogy ('Voyage" and
"Shipwreck" are the titles of Parts I md 2)
depicts the rise of the Russian intelligentsia
in the mid-1800s, a group of privileged aris-
tocrats who grapple with philosophy md
love and family squabbles - all under the
watchful, condenning eyes of the serfs who
make their lavish lives possible
First staged in London in 2002, it took
a massive commitment from Lincoln Cen-
ter to make such a gamble possible in New
York Now, the work has been showered
with praise; there's a crush of ticket buyers
yearning to see the cycle all in one day, and
"Salvage" has been extended to May.
The starry cast includes Ethan Hawke,
NOTES FROM ON THE GROUND EthAN HAWKE. MATthA
Plimpton, rennifel Ehle ard Kellie overbey (from
l.) observe a country on the brink of revolutionary
change in 'voyage,' Part 1 of'The coast of Utopia."
TORRENTS OF SPRING Butler Hamilton, Ethan Hawke
and Adam ltannheisser (below. from l.) witness a
wave of yiol€nt upheaval throughout Europe in the
mid-1800s in'shipwreck,' Part 2 of'Utopia.";
o
=
€
Brian E O'Blme, Billy Crudup, Josh Hmil-
ton, Amy lrying, Richad Easton (who
collapsed on stage in October perfoming
a preview of'Voyage" but retumed to the
show several weeks later). Jemifer Eble
md Martha Plimpton (Hawke also worked
with O'Brien on'Henry IVJ
'TVhen people say it's a sacrifice - well,
what does a person who is interested in
acting want lo do with their time?' says
Hawke, the 36-year-old who has been nom-
inated for Oscffi for acting (200I's "Train-
ing Day'') md Miting (2004's "Before Sm-
set') 'A three-part epic on Russim radicals
Mitten by Tom Stoppard and directed by
Jack O'Brien at Lincoln Center - what else
is there that you're hoping for?"
O'Brien agrees. "Let's notjust look at it in
terms of how difficult it hm been or how chal-
lenging it is," says the dilectoi who is work-
ing intenselywith Stoppdd, who h6 contin-
ued to trim md shape md refine the plays
"It has been glorious- - And I'mincredi-
bly gmtefuI md sort of mued that I'm still
standing at the end of this."
For Hawke, who plays the blustery yeam-
ing-for-action revolutiontry Balflnin, this
is tbe culmination of m exceDtional m oftheater work, which includes "Henry M' md
a 2005 revival of David Rabe's "Hulyburly."
"I m't even be objective about Ethan,"
says O'Brien, who had high praise for t}le en-
tire ensemble "Ethm wm the first to com-
mit; he wre the first tumbler to fall, md it all
fell into place Billy cme almost ime-
diately thereafter, and suddenly,
much to my trtonishment, I got
this extraordinary compmy.
"I'Ye seen Ethm grow
since'Heffy ry"' continues
O'Brien- "He's fomidable
I think he has been through
a lot of unhappiness, but it
has tempered him It hasn't
made him bitter and it hdn't
defeated him; it hil enltrged
him He's gol. a seclion in the last
play that is as beautiful as anything I've ever
seen in my life lt's the entire rmge of what
he is as Bakunin md what he is as Ethm,"
Now, rehersals are wer, all three plays
re being perfomed in repertory the casu-
al backstage book club hm moved on from
Tolstoy's "Arna Karenina" to Turgenev's
"Fathers and Sons," and already, it seems,
the May closing of this epiq i5 coming fast"Theater is present tense, in the moment,
as opposed to film which [seems] so much
more nostalgic," says Hawke "People have
this idea that flLm is imortal, that it lives
forever Itjust doesn't If your butt is inthe
seat lat a play] and you're watching some-
thing that's really special, it's special to you
rightnow, this instant - you're not
going to be able to rent it next yeil
sVhenwe do the lilt perfor-
mmce md the €liys come in with
the sledgehmmers md crowbrs
md the garbage bins and stad
iirowing ou set away, it's such
a strmge meditation on death or
something, it's so sad . But the
fact that it's passing makes each
perfommce special."
O'Brien is looking foMild lo a cruise
to Costa Rica before, almost unbelievably,
moving on to motlter trilogy at the Metro-
politan Opera: Puccini's "Il Trittico," a
collection of tlrree one-act works
"This has taken every bit of refinement,
wit, blocking, cheerleading and editing that
I cm possibly muster," says O'Brien- "I don't
know what it's going to be like when I
frnally finish this " a