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The Coast of Utopia, Part III: Salvage

By Matt Windman | amNewYork Theater Critic

4:37 PM EST, February 19, 2007

Brian F. O'Byrne (L), Ethan Hawke and Josh Hamilton in 'Salvage,' part III of Tom Stoppard's trilogy at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC. (Newsday/Ari Mintz)

A self-congratulatory air is permeating Lincoln Center. Thousands of subscribers, now attending the third and final installment of Tom Stoppard¹s ³The Coast of Utopia,² are quite impressed with themselves, having sat through the entire trilogy. A few even dare to claim that they could follow the plot.

Of course, everyone involved in ³Coast² should be proud, and deservedly so.

This production of three full-length three-hour plays, utilizing the same forty-person ensemble (performing on Bob Crowley¹s gorgeous set) will surely go down in Broadway history alongside other mammoth productions like ³Angels in America² and ³The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.²

In ³Voyage,² set in the Russian countryside, we were slowly introduced bit-by-bit, character-by-character, locale-by-locale to Tom Stoppard¹s vision, chronicling the birth of the Russian intelligentsia throughout the mid-nineteenth century. We met novelist Ivan Turgenev, aristocrat-turned-anarchist Michael Bakunin, radical theorist Alexander Herzen and literary critic Vissarion Belinsky.

In ³Shipwreck,² Herzen¹s personal life mirrored the disastrous downfall of European politics. Instead of Russia, this took place in France before and after the overthrow of King Louis Philippe in February 1948. Unlike ³Voyage,² which served as a grand dose of fragmented exposition, ³Shipwreck² was concentrated enough to count as a real play in and of itself, though still serving the overall needs of the trilogy.

³Salvage,² which again focuses on Herzen, takes place over a period of twelve years in London and Geneva. While Herzen publishes a renegade newspaper promoting Russian democracy, the Tsar passes away and the serfs are freed. In the end, as Herzen loses his influence, he catches up with Bakunin, recently freed from imprisonment, and looks optimistically toward 1917.

Though ³Coast² has become the surprise snob hit of the season, the tide of opinion has somewhat turned against it since Charles Isherwood of the Times accused it of being ³boring.² Regardless, no one can deny that ³Coast² is an extremely well acted, smartly directed and amazingly ambitious product of modern theater. Kudos to director Jack O¹Brien, set designer Bob Crowley, and the entire ensemble cast.

Coast of Utopia, Part III. At the Vivian Beaumont Theater, through May 13. $65-$100. Schedule varies. (150 W 65th St, 212-239-6200)