Wendy Wasserstein

It's not a comprehensive survey of the American musical theater, but Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There is an invaluable and moving salute to the art form composed of interviews with the people who were there in the 1940s through the 1960s. There are too many to list, but they include John Raitt, Angela Lansbury, Hume Cronyn, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Carol Channing, Jerry Orbach, Robert Goulet, Robert Morse (even he's gotten old!), Jerry Herman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Harold Prince. There are also some rare performance clips, such as Ethel Merman in Gypsy, Patricia Morison in Kiss Me Kate, and Angela Lansbury in Mame, as well as more familiar television performances, but very few film versions (for either authenticity or rights reasons). Director Rick McKay's focus, however, is on evocative stills, a few too many shots of the city, and most of all the words from the stars themselves. Fact is, because Broadway shows are a live performance medium, there simply isn't a lot of footage available, which is why it's a treat--no, it's an obligation--that we hear the stories from the people themselves. It's the best way the form will survive. After a bit of a slow start, the interviews cover the culture of Broadway, hanging out at Walgreen's and Sardi's, taking a show on the road, and thoughts about the current generation. (Broadway in this case refers to the location in New York rather than the musical-theater genre, so non-musicals are a major part of the discussion.) Broadway: The Golden Age had a limited theatrical run in 2004, and there will be inevitable comparisons to Broadway: The American Musical, the six-hour series that played on PBS in the fall of that same year. The PBS series is much longer (especially counting the DVDs' bonus interviews) and unlike The Golden Age, it attempts to be a comprehensive survey of 100 years of American musical theater. The ambition is admirable, but often hard to live up to. The Golden Age offers more rare footage, and a more powerful sense of nostalgia throughout the interviews. On the downside, there's no real structure to the film other than grouping the interviews by random subject, and director McKay relies too much on his own personal experiences as a jumping-off point. But it's a worthwhile, often passionate film that captures a priceless glimpse at a way of life as lived by so many memorable figures whose like will never be seen again. --David Horiuchi

Filmmaker Rick McKay presents this astonishing documentary tribute to the Great White Way. Focusing on Broadway shows and superstars from the 1940s through the 1960s, McKay assembles an assortment of some of the greatest talents ever to grace the stage as they fondly remember the performances that have passed into legend. Includes rare archival footage and appearances by Jerry Orbach, Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Marlon Brando, Elaine Stritch, Angela Lansbury, and many more. AKA: "Broadway: The Movie." 111 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; audio commentary; audio commentary; bonus footage.

From England's Covent Garden comes this remarkable performance of Tchaikovsky's beloved holiday classic by the Royal Ballet. Highlighted by Sir Anthony Dowell's memorable direction and stunning music by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the conduction of Evgenii Svetlanov, the production is certain to entertain and enthrall you. 133 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital Surround, PCM stereo; Subtitles: French, German; bonus footage; featurette; interview.

This entry in the new Penguin Music Classics collection presents one of the best readings of Dvorák's Ninth, From the New World. In her liner essay, playwright Wendy Wasserstein--author of the acclaimed Heidi Chronicles--describes playing the Ninth at blaring volumes on her discman as she traversed downtown Prague. And this is exactly how the music should be heard: loud. Dvorák's Ninth is, of course, so frequently played that it can become cumbersome, but Istvan Kertész and the London Symphony Orchestra play the score wonderfully, tender in the Largo and pouncing in the Molto vivace. This performance gives off pristine string and brass architectural detail even as the Ninth swoons in romantic washes and blasts in robust high energy. And there are few crescendos as brilliant as the Allegro section, with the brass crying out as if from the precipice between Dvorák's centuries-old Prague and the young, multiracial United States. Much has been made of the presence of Native American and African-American strains in this piece, and these elements make it one of the 19th century's acknowledged gems. The Ninth was a huge splash for Dvorák when he unloosed it in 1893 at Carnegie. Wasserstein relates how it invigorated her as a high school student in 1966, and it still electrifies listeners in 1998. --Andrew Bartlett

Jamie Lee Curtis stars in this adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein's hit play The Heidi Chronicles. A lecture about ignored female painters by art historian Heidi Holland (Curtis) frames the decade-by-decade story of her life, starting with a high school dance in the mid-'60s and working its way through political rallies, feminist consciousness raising, gay rights, AIDS, the excess of the 1980s--it's a bit like Forrest Gump, but with a smart, self-deprecating woman instead of a dumb cheerful guy. Wasserstein traces a well-intentioned (if glib) arc of female experience through this time period, articulating the costs of independence as well as the glories. The important personal realizations come fast and thick, but Curtis, Tom Hulce, Kim Cattrall (in a wealth of era-appropriate wigs), and Peter Friedman do their best to keep The Heidi Chronicles from being a baby-boomer pop-up book. --Bret Fetzer

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein's acclaimed debut, Uncommon Women and Others, rings with uncommon truth and insight into common human foibles. That's what makes this 1978 television production--as presented by New York's Phoenix Theater--so universally appealing, even if its characters aren't always easy to like. Framed by a present-day luncheon between old friends, the autobiographical play flashes back to 1971, their senior year at Mount Holyoke College, where young women are groomed for "Gracious Living" and high expectations. This distaff Ivy League prompts an abundance of lively introspection from the classmates, including Rita (Swoosie Kurtz), the aspiring novelist who'll never write a novel; Leilah (Meryl Streep), tentatively devoted to a humanitarian future; and Holly (Alma Cuervo), whose identity is troublesomely elusive. This amazing ensemble captures the essence of seven diverse characters, wrapping them in humor, sarcasm, and keenly observant compassion. In Wasserstein's view, these seemingly common women are ultimately unique, after all. --Jeff Shannon

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein's first play. At a reunion seven years after their graduation from Mount Holyoke College, five former classmates assess whether they have achieved their youthful goals. In a flashback, the women, all part of a group dubbed "uncommon"--because they were expected to be "amazing" before they reached 30--relive their senior year and examine the influences that shaped them. "A remarkable first play by Wendy Wasserstein." --The New York Post. With Meryl Streep, Jill Eikenberry, Swoosie Kurtz, Ann McDonough, and Alma Cuervo.

In this ultra-hip, multilayered comedy, triangles and emotional imbroglios take on a new meaning. Well, at least they try. Jennifer Aniston plays a straight woman who falls in love with a gay man (Paul Rudd). She invites him to move in with her just hours after they meet. As their friendship progresses, she learns she is pregnant, and wants Rudd to act as daddy to her newborn, much to the consternation of her overbearing boyfriend (John Pankow). The film takes itself too seriously, although there is some genuine emotion buried in Wendy Wasserstein's clunky script. It is not that the relationships are unbelievable; it is that the story lurches forward from one stilted setup to another. And unfortunately, characters are motivated by unknown forces to take on major life changes without explanation. More fortunate are two very likable performances by Rudd, who wisely plays this without cute, homosexual tics, and a most perky and appealing Aniston. Supporting actor Nigel Hawthorne walks away with the film as a gay drama critic who imparts a few important life lessons as he learns one of his own. --Rochelle O'Gorman

In this ultra-hip, multilayered comedy, triangles and emotional imbroglios take on a new meaning. Well, at least they try. Jennifer Aniston plays a straight woman who falls in love with a gay man (Paul Rudd). She invites him to move in with her just hours after they meet. As their friendship progresses, she learns she is pregnant, and wants Rudd to act as daddy to her newborn, much to the consternation of her overbearing boyfriend (John Pankow). The film takes itself too seriously, although there is some genuine emotion buried in Wendy Wasserstein's clunky script. It is not that the relationships are unbelievable; it is that the story lurches forward from one stilted setup to another. And unfortunately, characters are motivated by unknown forces to take on major life changes without explanation. More fortunate are two very likable performances by Rudd, who wisely plays this without cute, homosexual tics, and a most perky and appealing Aniston. Supporting actor Nigel Hawthorne walks away with the film as a gay drama critic who imparts a few important life lessons as he learns one of his own. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Jennifer Aniston stars in this winning romantic comedy as a pregnant single woman who knows that gay roommate and best friend Paul Rudd would make a better father to her baby--and a much better husband to her--than her apprehensive boyfriend. What is she to do? Alan Alda, John Pankow and Nigel Hawthorne also star. Scripted by Wendy Wasserstein; Nicholas Hytner ("The Madness of King George") directs. 111 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, Spanish.

The authorized biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein. In Wendy and the Lost Boys bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high- pitched giggle and unkempt curls, she projected an image of warmth and familiarity. Everyone knew Wendy Wasserstein. Or thought they did. Born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Wendy was the youngest of Lola and Morris Wasserstein's five children. Lola had big dreams for her children. They didn't disappoint: Sandra, Wendy's glamorous sister, became a high- ranking corporate executive at a time when Fortune 500 companies were an impenetrable boys club. Their brother Bruce became a billionaire superstar of the investment banking world. Yet behind the family's remarkable success was a fiercely guarded world of private tragedies. Wendy perfected the family art of secrecy while cultivating a densely populated inner circle. Her friends included theater elite such as playwright Christopher Durang, Lincoln Center Artistic Director André Bishop, former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, and countless others. And still almost no one knew that Wendy was pregnant when, at age forty-eight, she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital to deliver Lucy Jane three months premature. The paternity of her daughter remains a mystery. At the time of Wendy's tragically early death less than six years later, very few were aware that she was gravely ill. The cherished confidante to so many, Wendy privately endured her greatest heartbreaks alone. In Wendy and the Lost Boys, Salamon assembles the fractured pieces, revealing Wendy in full. Though she lived an uncommon life, she spoke to a generation of women during an era of vast change. Revisiting Wendy's works-The Heidi Chronicles and others-we see Wendy in the free space of the theater, where her many selves all found voice. Here Wendy spoke in the most intimate of terms about everything that matters most: family and love, dreams and devastation. And that is the Wendy of Neverland, the Wendy who will never grow old.

An Interview with Julie Salamon, author of the new book, Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein. Q: Why did you title the book Wendy and the Lost Boys? Julie Salamon: As the research progressed, I noticed that the classic story, Peter Pan, became a recurrent motif. Wendy was one of the many Baby Boom babies named for Wendy Darling, Peter’s beloved friend, after the book became a popular Broadway musical starring Mary Martin. Wendy performed in the play as a girl, choreographed a dance for an avant-garde version in college, and named her daughter Lucy Jane (Jane was the name chosen by Peter’s Wendy for her little girl). For Wendy’s peers, Peter Pan became emblematic of a generation that tried to retain eternal youth, and then had to contend with the realities of aging and responsibility. Moreover, Wendy’s life was filled with “lost boys,” including a brother who was mentally disabled (and who was pretty much dropped from conversation within the family and who was separated from the family at an early age). Her “lost boys” included the gay men of the theater who became her closest circle, even as they all lived through vast changes in their lives and personal relationships. Q: Wendy came from an extremely successful family; can you describe what shaped her as a young girl growing up? Salamon: Wendy was born in 1950, to immigrant parents, just five years after the end of World War II; her family was caught up in the postwar desire to achieve the success that would make them safe. Her mother Lola, in particular, had a fierce personality and powerful ambition. Lola instilled the paradox that would become a recurrent theme in Wendy’s life and her work, the feeling of being better than everyone else but also not quite good enough. In The Heidi Chronicles, Wendy refers to the phenomenon of being “superior-inferior.” The playwright was also profoundly shaped by the times she lived in. In her youth, the 60s roared through New York, calling everything into question. The world was changing fast, creating a charged and exciting atmosphere of provocation and creativity: Civil rights, pop art, the Beatles, feminism, pacifism and protest. It was a pivotal moment, the line of demarcation between conformity and rebellion, stability and chaos. Q: Wendy's story reflects the accomplishments--as well as the fear and anxiety--of women who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. How was she affected by the changing roles and attitudes of women, and how did her work reflect those changes? Salamon: Her work--plays, essays and a final novel--reflected her life and her life reflected the times she lived in. Uncommon Women and Others deals with the youthful dreams of young women who came of age as society’s demands and expectations were undergoing a vast transformation. In subsequent plays, notably Isn’t It Romantic and The Heidi Chronicles, she dealt with the complex choices women confronted as they faced competing desires for home and family and successful careers. In essays dealing with her family and her decision to have a baby as a single mother, she acknowledged the longing for home, while struggling to find her place in society that hadn’t found a way to satisfy competing desire. Her final play, Third, contends with the disillusionment and reflection of a woman in middle age, contending with children, career, and aging parents. Q: You characterize Wendy as at once extremely social and yet mystifyingly private--can you elaborate? Salamon: After Wendy died, her close friend, the former New York Times columnist Frank Rich, wrote, “How could the most public artist in New York keep so much locked up? I don’t think I was the only friend who felt I had somehow failed to see Wendy whole.” She gave the illusion, in her writing and in her relationships, that she made her life an open book. It was only after she died that people began to realize how much she kept hidden. As with so much in her life, the source of her secrecy was her mother. Lola Wasserstein suffered many losses, and survived by forging ahead, not “dwelling” on past wounds. The family joked that, when people died, it was said “They went to Europe.” Wendy’s reaction to her upbringing was to hide in plain sight--giving the illusion of revelation, while keeping the most crucial information locked inside. Q: Your portrait of Wendy reveals a remarkable driven yet remarkably insecure woman--what do you think accounts for that insecurity? Salamon: One of Wendy’s friends once said: “Wendy was a very driven person, and yet she was a very warm person. Sometimes those things came into conflict.” Much of her insecurity derived from the ambition that led her into the highly competitive world of theater. The “vicious dumpling” as one friend called her, wasn’t really very vicious but she had inherited her mother’s urge for self-preservation. Balancing her wish to be loved with her lofty goals was a high wire act. A more profound source of her insecurity was the absence of her mentally-disabled brother Abner, who she didn’t meet until she was almost fifty years old. The family’s secrecy about him and other matters kept Wendy off-balance, unable to fully trust her own sense of reality. And then there was Lola, always quick to remind her daughter that she wasn’t svelte enough, she wasn’t married, and she didn’t have children (until late in the game). Wendy often told the story of Lola’s response to her daughter winning the Pulitzer Prize: “I’d be just as happy if she brought home a husband.” Q: Bruce Wasserstein was a famous character in his own right, a Wall Street titan--what was her relationship with her brother? Salamon: While I was working on the book, a Wall Street guy cornered me at a party and said: “I want you to find out how the same DNA produced Bruce and Wendy.” This was a frequent refrain. He became a billionaire, known as a pugnacious investment banker with little regard for social (or business) niceties. She was beloved as both playwright and person, considered a best friend even by people who barely knew her. Yet they were more alike than different in their ambition, their willingness to disregard convention, their extreme desire for privacy. They were very close, though their separate orbits often led to fractiousness. “I can’t help wondering whether what I say has any relevance for him at all,” she once wrote. In the end, though, when she was dying, Wendy turned to her brother and his wife to care for Lucy Jane. Q: What drove Wendy, at age 48, to give birth to her daughter, and how did motherhood affect her? Salamon: Throughout her life Wendy expressed yearning for a family. In a little-known play called "Miami," about her childhood, the adolescent character based on Wendy discusses the conflict she feels, between wanting to be a star and wanting children. She was quite close to her nieces and nephews and discussed having children with various men in her life. On the other hand, her actions often contradicted this desire. She repeatedly fell in love with unavailable men, many of them gay. For years she underwent in-vitro fertilization, but never engaged wholeheartedly in the process. By the time her daughter was born, Wendy was 48 years-old and already showing signs of the illness that eventually killed her. Much as she loved Lucy Jane, Wendy was often too ill or too preoccupied with her writing to enjoy being a mother as much as she had hoped. Q: What was the theatrical scene like in the 70s and 80s when Wendy came of age as a playwright? Salamon: Wendy came of age as a playwright as the nonprofit theater world hugely expanded. She became one of the original group of playwrights at Playwrights Horizons who brought a Baby Boom mentality to theater, and help create a sense of excitement and relevance for a new generation of theater-goers. In telling Wendy’s story, Wendy and the Lost Boys also recalls the formative years of Wendy’s group, which included James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim’s longtime collaborator; Andre Bishop, who became artistic director of Lincoln Center after putting Playwrights Horizons on the map; playwrights Christopher Durang and William Finn. Frank Rich, then the New York Times drama critic (and who became known as the Butcher of Broadway) was a dear friend of Wendy, a friendship often looked at with raised eyebrows by her theater friends, many of whom were on the receiving end of Rich’s lacerating prose. Q: What do you think her legacy will be in the theater? Will her plays pass the test of time? Salamon: Her plays were, in many ways, bright sociological commentaries on her times, though "Uncommon Women and Others," and "The Sisters Rosensweig," contain enduring themes about friendship and families. Certainly her success as a woman playwright continues to be an inspiration, considering how much less notably women have progressed in the theater world compared with other professions, including the arts. Julie Salamon is available for further interviews. Please contact: Elisabeth Calamari at 212-366-2857 or Elisabeth.calamari@us.penguingroup.com. (Photo of Julie Salamon © Sara Krulwich)

The authorized biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein. In Wendy and the Lost Boys bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high- pitched giggle and unkempt curls, she projected an image of warmth and familiarity. Everyone knew Wendy Wasserstein. Or thought they did. Born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Wendy was the youngest of Lola and Morris Wasserstein's five children. Lola had big dreams for her children. They didn't disappoint: Sandra, Wendy's glamorous sister, became a high- ranking corporate executive at a time when Fortune 500 companies were an impenetrable boys club. Their brother Bruce became a billionaire superstar of the investment banking world. Yet behind the family's remarkable success was a fiercely guarded world of private tragedies. Wendy perfected the family art of secrecy while cultivating a densely populated inner circle. Her friends included theater elite such as playwright Christopher Durang, Lincoln Center Artistic Director André Bishop, former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, and countless others. And still almost no one knew that Wendy was pregnant when, at age forty-eight, she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital to deliver Lucy Jane three months premature. The paternity of her daughter remains a mystery. At the time of Wendy's tragically early death less than six years later, very few were aware that she was gravely ill. The cherished confidante to so many, Wendy privately endured her greatest heartbreaks alone. In Wendy and the Lost Boys, Salamon assembles the fractured pieces, revealing Wendy in full. Though she lived an uncommon life, she spoke to a generation of women during an era of vast change. Revisiting Wendy's works-The Heidi Chronicles and others-we see Wendy in the free space of the theater, where her many selves all found voice. Here Wendy spoke in the most intimate of terms about everything that matters most: family and love, dreams and devastation. And that is the Wendy of Neverland, the Wendy who will never grow old.

So well-liked was the first collection of these contemporary monologues that we offer this sequel by popular demand. The monologues are wildly funny, tragically sad and yet courageous. The ultimate journey for this collection is to create the possibility of living lovingly as equals in our modern world. The monologues are organised in chapter themes with brief sketches to set the scene. The collection features well-known playwrights - Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, August Wilson - and many superb, emerging new writers. There are several original monologues written especially for classroom discussion and exploration. Sample titles include: "The Last Yankee" by Arthur Miller, "Boy Meets Girl" by Wendy Wasserstein, "The Underpants" adapted by Steve Martin, "Romantic Fools2 by Rich Orloff, "Voices from September 11" by Lavonne Mueller, "Funnylogues for Women" by Mort Kaufman, Roger Karshner and Zelda Abel, "W.A.C. Iraq" by Mel Nieves and many more.

The graduating seniors of a Seven Sisters college, trying to decide whether to pattern themselves after Katharine Hepburn or Emily Dickinson. Two young women besieged by the demands of mothers, lovers, and careers—not to mention a highly persistent telephone answering machine—as they struggle to have it all. A brilliant feminist art historian trying to keep her bearings and her sense of humor on the elevator ride from the radical sixties to the heartless eighties.Wendy Wasserstein's characters are so funny, so many-sided, and so real that we seem to know them from their Scene One entrances, though the places they go are invariably surprising. And these three plays—Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't It Romantic, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles—manage to engage us heart, mind, and soul on such a deep and lasting level that they are already recognized as classics of the modern theater.