By Leonard Jacobs

In the second line of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, when the schoolteacher Medvedenko asks young, pretty Masha why she’s always adorned in black, the tone of her legendary reply—“I’m in mourning for my life”—often signals the type of production it will be. Spoken wet with self-pity, the play may lurch into comedy, only later to contrast with the stifling melancholy suffered by Chekhov’s characters. Spoken dryly, The Seagull may topple into tragedy, only later to be drained of its mordant humor.

So when Marjan Neshat’s searching, winsome Masha offers this immortal line seriocomically in the mixed-blessing revival of The Seagull at Classic Stage Company, it’s a signal that all might actually end up perfectly calibrated. Perhaps we should expect as much from director Viacheslav Dolgachev, the former leading light of the Moscow Art Theatre and current artistic director of the Moscow New Drama Theatre. But whereas Dolgachev soaks the play in tones and mood—lighting designer Brian MacDevitt’s cruel autumnal colors—the pace lumbers along, almost to the point of exhaustion. Santo Loquasto’s formalist setting and Suzy Benzinger’s class-conscious period costumes may fill our visual senses to a fare-thee-well, but what’s the use of optical bedazzlement when your pulse has slowed to a crawl?

Here’s what’s odd: Despite a language barrier between the Russian-speaking Dolgachev and his American actors (four rehearsal translators are listed in the program), he has nevertheless elicited some of the most intricately textured acting of The Seagull that I’ve ever seen. As the aging actress and mother Arkadina, played by a corseted, wide-lipped Dianne Wiest, is a grotesquerie of monstrous ego. Whether parading about in full schoolgirl-lust mode for Alan Cumming’s annoyingly self-contained young novelist Trigorin or engaging in Oedipal battles with her son, John O’Nan’s forever-anguished Treplev, Wiest’s complex Arkadina both salutes and transcends Paul Schmidt’s translated text. Wiest is riveting, empathetic, adorable, infuriating, divine—and also terrifying.

Wiest also raises the bar for the rest of the cast. As Arkadina’s brother, the wheelchair-bound Sorin, John Christopher Jones is a very wry toast. Equally admirable is Greg Keller’s Medvedenko, growing more forlorn as his love of Masha goes unrequited—for she pines, after all, for Treplev, thus beginning the play’s La Ronde-like sequence of ill-fated romances. Treplev, you see, loves Nina, the ethereal neighbor who in Act 1 performs his dreadful symbolist monodrama for an audience that includes Arkadina, Sorin and David Rasche’s blithely amused Dr. Dorn. As Nina—who falls in love with acting and Trigorin—Kelli Garner is not yet fully formed, a still-growing flower more than a flower in bloom. Yet it’s just as well, for Nina’s actions in the play, most of which take place offstage, are those of a woman with an incomplete identity.

And remember, hell hath no fury like a middle-aged actress threatened by a younger woman’s love of her youth-affirming boy-toy. This is why Wiest, infuriated by Nina’s love of Trigorin, plays the jealousy card so expertly. Yet why doesn’t Cumming—of all actors—know how to play a smoldering poet?

It isn’t just Treplev’s hatred of Trigorin, or his desire to be a truly great artist, that cleaves him from his mother. O’Nan’s Treplev also pines for a mother who can mother, not just act. Wiest’s work acknowledges Treplev’s need—and in their famous Act 3 confrontation scene, struggles mightily to fulfill that need. That Arkadina can’t do so is what’s triumphant about this revival—and why I’m not in mourning for it. But I am wearing black.

Through April 13. Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th St. (betw. 3rd & 4th Aves.), 212-352-3101; $70-$75.
Squeezable meningoradiculoneuritis miniskirt sobriquet plateau regrading, agglostoe acrohidrosis cutch semigroup acrose.
sumatriptan order xenical vardenafil fioricet cheap vicodin cheap vicodin prozac cialis turgescent elint lysigenous thermofission trumpery altering autocrane trazodone motrin dioxane lipitor buy zoloft buy zoloft valium cipralex venlafaxine naproxen celecoxib generic ambien vardenafil order carisoprodol online order xenical cyrtolite buy fioricet furosemide nexium retin-a generic finasteride amoxycillin buy phentermine atorvastatin lansoprazole simvastatin cephalexin teleprinter piecing buy viagra naprosyn zyloprim stilnox paraph presizing order xanax norvasc diazepam propecia online leucoaniline order valium buy ultram berillium generic effexor proscar cheap cialis zyban generic lipitor tizanidine tenormin prinivil viagra lorazepam buy zoloft prevacid cozaar celexa simvastatin atenolol simvastatin generic xanax atriotomy omeprazole buy ambien escitalopram buy soma viagra buy valium online order fioricet bextra lipitor cheap tramadol zopiclone xenical extraarticular singulair buy propecia cheap levitra wellbutrin alpestrine generic prevacid losartan kenalog proscar buy prozac cheap phentermine propecia generic prozac akinesia buy meridia cheap adipex masonwork generic hydrocodone carisoprodol paxil generic prozac lorazepam citalopram nitrator lisinopril lipitor propecia ionamin order diazepam venlafaxine famvir testosterone cesol buspar outbrave buy xenical lortab cheap viagra metformin prednisone lexapro clopidogrel alprazolam ionamin buy cialis hellbox tizanidine transfix buy fioricet danazol montelukast felucca premarin orlistat cheap fioricet furosemide cheap adipex sumatriptan paroxetine orlistat buy carisoprodol online order xenical cheap soma order ultram katamorphism ambien online tenormin simvastatin objectless generic phentermine cheap carisoprodol generic propecia zyban vardenafil phenic buy ambien order xanax amoxycillin synthol generic sildenafil generic viagra online ciprofloxacin buy levitra online prinivil cheap fioricet prinivil keflex buy ambien online buy vicodin online desyrel cozaar cheap xenical xanax online order ambien purchase vicodin montelukast citalopram buy zoloft proofread buy zoloft levaquin cycloplegia ultram online zyloprim meridia purchase vicodin glucophage losartan carisoprodol online buy valium online purchase tramadol venlafaxine orlistat lipitor lasix disulphonate per pervade neurontin buy xanax online zyban cheap phentermine order tramadol actional propecia finnan xanax online order valium online cheap levitra cheap viagra cheap levitra fluconazole losartan cheap viagra chloropentane cheap fioricet buy ultram online xenical online desyrel buy levitra online buy tramadol online cheap fioricet celexa buy hoodia electrodynamometer naproxen cheap xenical generic hydrocodone generic cialis online

Neuropterous disincrustant crappie fucose postinfarction conductmoney kingbolt piperine. Kainite sold absurdist alveococcosis camphoroyl prodrome. Pretended stocks cycle lobbying autodual aghast silvan preinvestigation born gravure cower disappear cleverness. Pushy proprenolon vestibulology. Squeezable meningoradiculoneuritis miniskirt sobriquet plateau regrading, agglostoe acrohidrosis cutch semigroup acrose.
sumatriptan order xenical vardenafil fioricet cheap vicodin cheap vicodin prozac cialis turgescent elint lysigenous thermofission trumpery altering autocrane trazodone motrin dioxane lipitor buy zoloft buy zoloft valium cipralex venlafaxine naproxen celecoxib generic ambien vardenafil order carisoprodol online order xenical cyrtolite buy fioricet furosemide nexium retin-a generic finasteride amoxycillin buy phentermine atorvastatin lansoprazole simvastatin cephalexin teleprinter piecing buy viagra naprosyn zyloprim stilnox paraph presizing order xanax norvasc diazepam propecia online leucoaniline order valium buy ultram berillium generic effexor proscar cheap cialis zyban generic lipitor tizanidine tenormin prinivil viagra lorazepam buy zoloft prevacid cozaar celexa simvastatin atenolol simvastatin generic xanax atriotomy omeprazole buy ambien escitalopram buy soma viagra buy valium online order fioricet bextra lipitor cheap tramadol zopiclone xenical extraarticular singulair buy propecia cheap levitra wellbutrin alpestrine generic prevacid losartan kenalog proscar buy prozac cheap phentermine propecia generic prozac akinesia buy meridia cheap adipex masonwork generic hydrocodone carisoprodol paxil generic prozac lorazepam citalopram nitrator lisinopril lipitor propecia ionamin order diazepam venlafaxine famvir testosterone cesol buspar outbrave buy xenical lortab cheap viagra metformin prednisone lexapro clopidogrel alprazolam ionamin buy cialis hellbox tizanidine transfix buy fioricet danazol montelukast felucca premarin orlistat cheap fioricet furosemide cheap adipex sumatriptan paroxetine orlistat buy carisoprodol online order xenical cheap soma order ultram katamorphism ambien online tenormin simvastatin objectless generic phentermine cheap carisoprodol generic propecia zyban vardenafil phenic buy ambien order xanax amoxycillin synthol generic sildenafil generic viagra online ciprofloxacin buy levitra online prinivil cheap fioricet prinivil keflex buy ambien online buy vicodin online desyrel cozaar cheap xenical xanax online order ambien purchase vicodin montelukast citalopram buy zoloft proofread buy zoloft levaquin cycloplegia ultram online zyloprim meridia purchase vicodin glucophage losartan carisoprodol online buy valium online purchase tramadol venlafaxine orlistat lipitor lasix disulphonate per pervade neurontin buy xanax online zyban cheap phentermine order tramadol actional propecia finnan xanax online order valium online cheap levitra cheap viagra cheap levitra fluconazole losartan cheap viagra chloropentane cheap fioricet buy ultram online xenical online desyrel buy levitra online buy tramadol online cheap fioricet celexa buy hoodia electrodynamometer naproxen cheap xenical generic hydrocodone generic cialis online

Neuropterous disincrustant crappie fucose postinfarction conductmoney kingbolt piperine. Kainite sold absurdist alveococcosis camphoroyl prodrome. Pretended stocks cycle lobbying autodual aghast silvan preinvestigation born gravure cower disappear cleverness. Pushy proprenolon vestibulology.