THIS 'CHERRY ORCHARD' MORE THAN RIPE FOR THE PICKING.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

THAT GLORIOUSLY gloomy Anton Chekhov - how he still manages to make actors salivate and induce potential audiences to reach for their plastic. Word on the Center Theatre Group Web site is that the new production of Chekhov's ``The Cherry Orchard,'' directed by Sean Mathias at the Mark Taper Forum, is expected to sell out its run by, oh, just about the time you're reading this.

How could it be otherwise? We Angelenos never could get enough of watching a stagnant aristocratic family proceeding, delusions fully intact, into a kind of oblivion. The presence of Annette Bening as the clan's ultra-delusional matriarch certainly has nothing to do with our interest.

All jests aside, Mathias' ``Cherry Orchard'' genuinely deserves full houses, and not simply because Bening, Alfred Molina, Lothaire Bluteau, Frances Fisher and the ``Orchard'' gang know exactly what they're about. Mathias has cast his production expertly; he's also staged ``The Cherry Orchard'' with equally healthy doses of wistfulness, compassion, longing and the odd dollop of humor. Chekhov, it will be remembered, envisioned his plays as comedies.

And indeed, Madame Ranyevskaya, the gentrified estate holder who returns home nearly penniless, is - if not exactly a jester - certainly a tragic fool. Bening favors wide, arms-out gestures as if her character wants to embrace the entire universe. Upon re-entering the nursery, after five years away, this Madame R. gets down on the floor and - damn any wear and tear to Catherine Zuber's smart costumes - gives the very room a hug, too.

Nobody, of course, thinks this is especially odd, because the rest of the family is just as prone to the highs of potential triumphs and the bottoming out of misery. Stagnancy and an awful looming deadline will do that to you. The debt-ridden estate and its scenic but worthless cherry orchards are up for auction at summer's end. Lopakhin (played by Molina) - once a peasant, now a wealthy land developer - offers a solution, but Madame R. and her equally foolish brother Gaev (Bluteau) won't hear of a plan that involves felling the orchard to make way for summer cottages. ``Such bad taste,'' sniffs a dismissive Ranyevskaya. (The new translation is by ``Bent'' playwright Martin Sherman.)

They're blind, but they're human, and Mathias' production is far less judgmental of the Ranyevskaya clan than I am being here. Better-grounded and with an eye to at least contemplating the future is the next generation: Ranyevskaya's prized daughter Anya (Rebecca Mozo) and foster daughter, Varya (Sarah Paulson), who keeps the household running with no money while expecting a proposal from Lopakhin that may never be forthcoming. In these performers' hands, Anya is no dim bulb, Varya no bitter shrew. And, most critically, both characters clearly worship their tragic mother.

If the construction of ``The Cherry Orchard'' is Chekhov artfully preparing us for the ax to fall, then Mathias' ensemble makes the anticipation every bit worth the wait. An outdoor scene set in a field is spiced up first by the servants Dunyasha (Jennifer Dundas) and Yasha (Peter Cambor), and, later, by the student Trofimov (Jason Butler Harner), flirting purposefully with Anya. The ball on the eve of the auction, with the family looking to dance itself into distraction, has a certain elegance as well.

It's in these later scenes where Bening's Madame Ranyevskaya shows how close to the edge of sanity the character might actually be. Madame Ranyevskaya still mourns the loss of a young son and has a feckless lover waiting for her in Paris. Her default instinct, when the walls appear to be closing in, is to make the sign of the cross. She'll take comfort where she can get it.

Lopakhin's return from the auction is Molina's moment to shine as well. The actor has played this role before - masterfully - in a production at the Odyssey Theatre in 2003, and he's just as dead-on here. Sporting a cockney accent, a bit of a shamble and a stubborn unwillingness to acknowledge snubs, Molina makes Lopakhin's triumphant hour decidedly bittersweet.

There is no room to see even a hint of those doomed orchards on Alexander Dodge's grayish, plank-and-board set that suggests, perhaps, the interior of an enormous barrel. There's nothing of this design, or of Zuber's costumes, to distract us from watching Mathias' splendid cast go about its Chekhovian business. In a ``Cherry Orchard'' this savory, that's very much as it should be.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

THE CHERRY ORCHARD - Three and one half stars

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through March 19.

Tickets: $42 to $55. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: A terrific cast gives Chekhov some bounce along with the requisite gloom.

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As Madame Ranyevskaya, Annette Bening is all grand gesture in Anton Chekhov's classic ``The Cherry Orchard,'' through March 19 at the Mark Taper Forum.