Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"..."The Cherry Orchard" is about how Ranevskaya is forced to leave, along with her mostly unaware daughter Anya (Raven Whitley), her savvier adopted daughter Varya (Alejandra Escalante) and her brother, Leonid (Christopher Donohue), an ineffectual eccentric who manages change very much like Connor Roy in the HBO show "Succession." Meaning, better than most. There's a deceptively complicated set by Rosenthal that comes and, most notably, goes."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...In this pure, funny, beautifully bittersweet Goodman production of Chekhov's last play, and the last selected by Falls as artistic director, the source of humor is well-pinpointed in humans' fundamental inability to change."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Falls offers those of us who've followed his work for decades a reminder of what he built at the Goodman. The physical comedy and emotional shifts in The Cherry Orchard may strike some viewers as overly broad or unmotivated, but to me, it felt pretty much in line with who these characters are-and more than once, I felt a little tickle or pricking at the back of my brain reminding me that I'm not that different from them, no matter what my own pretensions and professed values may be."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Chekhov's writing is magnificent, touching on our perpetual need to deceive ourselves of the truth and the anguish we place on others. Overall, this play symbolizes life's futility, asking, "What does men have to be proud of?" I like how By Dr. Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) described Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as an elegy for an old Russia that was in the process of dying at the turn of the century, with the new Russia powerless to be born. His words sum up Chekhov's humorous and haunting human emotions we concealed behind closed doors."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...If you are one that loves Chekhov and feels it should be done with very little humor, you might find this marvelous production unsettling. If you are one that hated to see his plays, you might find a whole new perspective and a love for the thoughts and ideas of this wonderful writer."
WTTW - Recommended
"..."The Cherry Orchard" is set at the very start of the 20th century, 40 years after serfdom was abolished in Russia but 17 years before the start of the Russian Revolution. As Falls' production suggests, the play can be seen as either a comedy, which is what Chekhov is said to have intended, or a tragedy. Given the upheaval in the lives of its many eccentric characters, "tragicomedy" might be the best description of this work. And its large cast - that captures characters ranging in age from teens to old age, and who are variously troubled, lovesick, rebellious and upended by both unexpected losses and gains - suggests the full spectrum of existence in a dramatically changing society."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Surely, Robert Falls will be recalled for his many, many excellent productions at the Goodman Theatre. And for the plays he hasn't directed personally, Mr. Falls has certainly guided and steered these toward greatness, as well. But, despite its length and leisurely pacing, "The Cherry Orchard" will undoubtedly stand out as one of his finest contributions to Chicago Theatre. Filled with memorable characters, pathos, lots of humor and many haunting beats, this show will be remembered as a production that Anton Chekhov, himself, would have undoubtedly given a standing ovation."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Robert Falls is back! Well, for a short time at least to direct his adaptation of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard." Falls retired as the Goodman Theatre artistic director in 2022, but his productions of Chekhov's classics have become events to anticipate. "The Cherry Orchard" is the endcap to Falls' Chekhov series that began with 'Three Sisters' and has included "The Seagull" and "Uncle Vanya". Each a definitive production that was met with critical acclaim. "The Cherry Orchard" is no exception, in fact, it might even be his best."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...Adapter and director Robert Falls dusts off Chekhov's masterpiece. In Falls' new invention, any comedic nuance has been elevated for the audience's pleasure. Boots squeak. Flowers fly. Cucumbers crunch. This show is LOL funny! A powerhouse ensemble of Chicago's best actors add to the hilarious absurdity. A whimsical Fry reminiscences with her delightfully long-winded brother (played by Christopher Donahue). Their interactions are playful musings about the good old days. They are willfully obtuse about the consequences of their inaction. At one point, Fry dreamily ponders 'if only there was a solution' sending the pragmatic Yermolai (played by Kareem Bandealy) into a riotous rant. Falls' banter is comedy gold."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Falls is now making his swan song as Goodman artistic director with his typically thoughtful direction of The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s suitably elegiac final play. Alternatively received by spectators and critics alike as either a tender farewell to a faded world or a cutting indictment of an obsolete (and oppressive) society— it is perhaps, both—The Cherry Orchard has been perplexing and captivating theatergoers since its first production. (When Chekhov objected to famed Moscow Art Theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski staging the show as a tragedy; the playwright insisted that he had written a comedy.)"
Chicago Theater and Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Rich and masterful, "The Cherry Orchard" serves as a triumphant curtain for Robert Falls' Goodman Theatre tenure."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Falls has chosen his swan song well. This is a play about looking back to see what once was and reflecting on what might never have been. In a modern, changing world in which many people have lost their sense of place, there is a tendency to embellish the memory of the past, to overlook the issues and problems that defined it as much as any joy or laughter. In The Cherry Orchard, Falls captures that moment of change in all of its confusion and pain while keeping one eye on what makes the past nostalgic and romantic. Letting go of this place, like letting go of the estate, cannot have been easy but, as with the cherry orchard itself, change is inevitable."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...Change is inevitable and "all things come to an end" a resoundingly appropriate quote from the play that sums up our human urge to reconcile with the past even as we keep a hopeful eye to the future. Adapted by Falls from a translation by George Calderon, "The Cherry Orchard" bursts with life, love, anguish and longing, showcasing an aristocracy trapped in its social mores, vulnerable yet oblivious to the generational change that is consuming them. It is theater of the highest caliber, a classic running spritely on all cylinders with production values that are rich, textured and sublime."
Chicago Culture Authority - Highly Recommended
"...The large ensemble cast is uniformly strong. Brilliant moments of wit and pathos and broad comedy abound. Kate Fry plays Lyubov Ranevskaya, the woman whose estate (including its vast cherry orchard) soon will go up for public auction to pay her debts, as a spendthrift flibbertigibbet barely able to mask the pain of losing her 7-year-old son in the waters of the Volga river flowing past the home she loves with all her broken heart."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...THE CHERRY ORCHARD is truly a grand event and should entice any lovers of classic theater. A well-rounded production, it contains something for most theater-goers: exuberance, drama, soul, and beauty."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...Robert Falls is leaving the theater directing business with a final, triumphant bang. His stage version of The Cherry Orchard is a theatrical masterpiece from the acting to the costumes to the set design. The play's story is an equal-opportunity satire of all of Russia's social classes and change at the time of the play's debut from 1904. Chekov lampoons the old aristocracy, as well as the new middle class, and both the old and the new peasant classes. The play is a well balanced mixture of comedy, satire and bittersweet tragedy."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...It's only fitting that for his swan song at Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls has adapted and directed Anton Chekhov's THE CHERRY ORCHARD, a play that's also very much a swan song. With this staging, Falls has completed the cycle of directing all four of Chekov's full-length plays for the Goodman stage. Fall's take on THE CHERRY ORCHARD is surprisingly comedic and strips the play of the more obscure Russian references (though it's still a period piece), which also demonstrates an artful understanding of the text and how 2023 audiences are best primed to receive it."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Robert Falls is now the former artistic director of the Goodman Theatre, but he's still formidable. Falls has always been deft at giving classic plays velocity and at sharpening the barbs in classic works' often-buried humor. For Goodman's current production of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," Falls has adapted the classic for speed and to make the laugh lines snap so wickedly hard that they elevate the play's pathos. Falls' adaptation also strikes a balance between a contemporary American idiom that the frenetic bit is more immediate and a more studied, slightly more archaic idiom that works for the more impassioned and poetic stretches of monologue and philosophical conversation."
