Summer, 1976

B-

When Manhattan Theatre Club announced a new play by David Auburn starring Laura Linney (The Little Foxes, Time Stands Still) and Jessica Hecht (The Assembled Parties, The Price), I felt a mix of emotions – hope that the playwright might once again achieve the heights of his 2000 Tony winner, Proof; delight at the thought of seeing one of my favorite actresses again; and apprehension at the prospect of seeing the other actress, who is a long way from a favorite of mine. My hope that Auburn would have another hit comparable to Proof was not fulfilled. The play consists mainly of a series of long monologues as two women of a certain age recall the summer they met in Columbus, Ohio long ago. Linney plays Diana, an artist and single mother of a five-year old daughter. Alice, played by Hecht, is the hippie wife of Doug, an economics professor striving for tenure. She meets Diana through a babysitting cooperative that Doug has created. As their two daughters bond, the women become unlikely friends. The recollections of their early friendship and subsequent developments, presented as they sit at opposite ends of a long table, are moderately interesting and sometimes amusing, but, for me at least, less than compelling. In a gimmick that did not work for me, Linney also plays Alice’s husband during certain scenes. Aside from that, Linney is the unaffectedly persuasive pro we have learned to expect. And then there’s Hecht. First of all, the makeup and lighting creatives have done her a great disservice, making her eyes look almost ghoulishly deeply set and her features unnaturally drawn. The unfortunate result is that she looks at least a generation older than Linney, who in real life is a year her senior. Furthermore, Hecht’s acting has always been too mannered for my taste. From the moment she opened her mouth with her broad version of a midwestern accent, I knew that my apprehension was well-founded. I think casting her as Alice was an unfortunate choice. The set by John Lee Beatty (Plaza Suite, Disgraced) is elegantly simple. Linda Cho’s (POTUS, Take Me Out) costume for Hecht shouts rather than whispers “hippie.” Director Daniel Sullivan (Proof, The Little Foxes, The Columnist) does his best to enliven what is a very static play, with limited success. I was not sorry I saw it, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t better. Running time: 95 minutes; no intermission.