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Spectacular 'Voyage' to 'Utopia'

By Matt Windman

November 27, 2006

Transitional scene in 'Voyage,' Part I of Tom Stoppard's trilogy, 'The Coast of Utopia,' about revolutionary and romantic politics in 19th-century Russia. (Newsday/Ari Mintz)

Not since Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" has a non-musical featured the kind of complex scenic design, staging and casting of a big Broadway show. Not even the "Les Miz" barricades could compare to this one.

Four years after its West End premiere, Tom Stoppard's mammoth eight-hour, three-play trilogy "The Coast of Utopia," which follows the birth of pre-revolutionary Russian intellectualism in the nineteenth century, has finally made its New York premiere at Lincoln Center. Unlike the original production, it features direction by Jack O'Brien and a new American cast of 44 actors.

Part One, "Voyage," was actually supposed to open about a month ago, but was postponed after Richard Easton suffered a heart arrhythmia during a preview performance. (He has since recovered and is again in the show.) Part Two, "Shipwreck," and Part Three, "Salvage," will each open in the coming months.

"Voyage," which displays the philosophic wit found in any Tom Stoppard play from "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" to "Arcadia," mainly serves as a long-winded introduction to the wide range of protagonists including novelist Ivan Turgenev, aristocrat-turned-anarchist Michael Bakunin, radical theorist Alexander Herzen and literary critic Vissarion Belinsky. In fact, one of the key events that enflames their passions is the murder of Pushkin, Russia's most prominent poet.

Jack O'Brien's production is visually brilliant in both scenic design, which displays a mannequin chorus of suffering serfs behind all the action, and the staging of actors. Though Ethan Hawke acts uncomfortably flamboyant, Billy Crudup delivers an excellent performance that is completely absorbed in character. And Richard Easton is particularly powerful as the family's patriarchal landlord, whose time in the political spotlight appears to be ending.

Anyone attending "Voyage" may feel overwhelmed by the multitude of plot points and allusions, not to mention Stoppard's complicated command of the English language. However, the gist is that these young, brash men are ready to break from earlier cultural tradition and embrace political and philosophic idealism. It seems that the action has been saved for the sequels.