Vulture's Rebecca Milzoff speaks with Diane Lane about her role in this year's revival of The Cherry Orchard.
Nearly 40 years ago, Diane Lane acted in Joseph Papp’s production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard; this fall, at 51, she returns to the play as tragedy-beset heroine Madame Ranevskaya. Though Lane is best known for her sultry onscreen presence, her theater roots run deep: She began acting as a child, with the experimental La MaMa theater in the East Village, and then graduated to musicals, Shakespeare, and Greek drama. While Simon Godwin’s new production (adapted by The Humans Tony winner Stephen Karam) isn’t technically her first time on the Great White Way, “this,” she says, “feels like my Broadway debut.”
Vulture: When you last did The Cherry Orchard, the cast included Meryl Streep and Raul Julia. Did you have a sense of their talent back then?
Diane Lane: Raul was one of the great gentlemen of all time. He would play jacks with me backstage. Meryl was very gracious; one time she allowed me to go into her makeup bag! I feel like I’m cheating getting to be in two productions of this play in my lifetime... READ MORE
