Once upon a time Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike would’ve been considered the stuff of collegiate spoof—a spiritual cousin to events like the University of Chicago’s annual latke vs. hamentaschen debate. Lavishing loads of erudition on a little conceit, the comedy pulls bits from a variety of sources, Aeschylus to Walt Disney, but particularly Anton Chekhov’s four theatrical masterpieces (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, and Three Sisters). Half the joke is playing Name That Reference along with the waggish don who wrote it, Christopher Durang.
Masha is the actual owner of the Bucks County house. Yet very much but not quite like Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, she’s seen better days financially, and so plans to sell—a move that, exactly like the house sale in Uncle Vanya, would put Vanya and Sonia on the street. Durang also throws in (a) a young neighbor named Nina, who, like Nina in The Seagull, dreams of being an actress, and (b) a black cleaning lady named Cassandra, who’s got nothing whatever to do with Chekhov but compensates by going into fits where she divines the future just like the Cassandra in Greek mythology.
Through 7/26: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Wed 7:30 PM; also Tue 7/14 and 7/21, 7:30 PM Goodman Theatre 170 N. Dearbor 312-443-3800goodmantheatre.org $24-$80
