Vanya On 42nd Street comes out February 28th on the Criterion Collection label. This is Louis Malle's final film and it reunites him with André Gregory and Wallace Shawn of My Dinner With André. It's a completely different kind of work this time around yet no less compelling. André Gregory had been rehearsing Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya for some time in a derelict Broadway theater. Although he never intended the play to be performed in the conventional sense, he would invite select audiences to attend the rehearsals. This film is a document of that --though it's by no means a documentary.
Document then became the order of the day for the packaging. I'll elaborate on the cover design process in a further post in the next day or so --along with some alternate cover designs I want to share. For now, here is the cover as well as menu designs for the DVD.
The cover photograph is by Brigitte Lacombe. Photography for the menus --as well as many throughout the booklet-- are by actress, Brooke Smith documenting rehearsal, film production and her time in general with cast mates and, no doubt, fond friends.
