Squabbling siblings have rarely inspired as much laughter as they do in Christopher Durang’s scrumdiddlyumptious 2013 Best Play Tony winner Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike, now being given a bang-up big-stage production at South Coast Repertory.

 Despite a title evocative of at least two Chekhovian classics and plenty of Chekhov references snuck in, even those who don’t know their Cherry Orchard from Cherries Jubilee will find themselves taken by 50something gay fuddy-duddy Vanya (Tim Bagley), his frumpy adopted younger sister Sonia (Jenna Cole), and the twosome’s “ageless” movie star sis Masha (Pamela J. Gray), whose box office grosses have kept the long-bickering older siblings comfortably ensconced in an aging Bucks County country house kept spic-and-span by sassy Slavic soothsaying cleaning lady Cassandra (Svetlana Efremova).

 Then comes the day the glamorous, globetrotting, five-times married Masha shows up unannounced, 20something actor/boy-toy Spike (Jose Moreno Brooks) in tow and a piece of bad news in store for her unwitting siblings.

 With a lover at least twenty years her junior and more than willing to strip down to his skin-tight boxer briefs at a moment’s notice, it’s no wonder that Masha isn’t all that thrilled when spunky young Spike introduces her to fresh-faced next-door neighbor Nina (Lorena Martinez), a would-be actress who’s more than thrilled to be heading off with the titular foursome to a Disney-themed costume party, even if it means dressing as Dopey to her favorite actress’s Snow White.

 Playwright Durang may have eschewed his Beyond Therapy/Baby With the Bathwater théâtre de l’absurd roots for more “traditional” fare in his biggest Broadway hit to date, but fans can rest assured. Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike is one of the funniest, most satisfying comedies you’re likely to see all year, and filled with characters who are alternately quirky and charming and irritating and hilarious and yet somehow utterly real.

Durang certainly knows how to make an audience laugh, whether it’s the unmarried, 52-year-old Sonia describing her latest nightmare (“I dreamt I was 52 and I wasn’t married!”) or Masha informing her siblings how often she thinks of them. (“I get called to the set and months go by and I forget to call.”)

 Still, one-liner-packed or not, for a Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike to truly soar, it needs a master director’s touch and a cast as adept at comic timing as they are at delving deep into characters’ seeming superficialities, and in director Bard DeLorenzo and his stellar ensemble, South Coast Repertory has hit the entertainment jackpot.

 Bagley underplays the fussy, sexually-repressed Vanya to perfection, and if he takes his deliberate time with the character’s pages-long rant against changing times, the multi-shaded result earns added points for poignancy.

Watching Sonia’s transformation from frumpy to fabulous proves even more delicious when Cole launches into a pitch-perfect replication of a shimmering, sequined Maggie Smith in Oscar-winning California Suite mode.

 Equal parts Glenn Close and Kim Basinger, Gray’s Masha is everything a glamorous movie goddess should be, while revealing that there just might be more than the superficial in this self-absorbed stunner.

 As movie-star handsome as he is spectacularly sculpted, Brooks’s Spike may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but the star of TV’s Telenovela is a comedic talent to be reckoned with, and does the most inspired reverse strip-tease ever.

The lovely Martinez aces Nina’s starstruck wonder and endearing naiveté, while Efremova’s Cassandra milks every soothsaying laugh from a character previously played as Jamaican or Latina and now transformed into a Russian-accented treat.

 Scenic designer Keith Mitchell gives Vanya and Sonia the most charming of Bucks County abodes adorned with two stories worth of family photos, Raquel Barreto’s costumes are all-around winners, with special snaps to some Disney-esque party wear and Spike’s briefest of briefs. Karyn D. Laurence’s vibrant daytime-nighttime lighting and sound designer John Ballinger’s jaunty original music score merit design kudos as well.

Joshua Marchesi and Holly Ahlborn are production managers. Moira Gleason is stage manager. Kat Zukaitis is dramaturg. Casting is by Joanne DeNaut, CSA.

At five productions and counting, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike never ceases to delight this smitten reviewer. Check it out at South Coast Rep and you will likely find yourself every bit as love-struck as I.

South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. T
www.scr.org

–Steven Stanley
October 7, 2018
Photos: Debora Robinson/SCR

Tags: Christopher Durang, Orange County Theater Review, South Coast Repertory