Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – David Auburn’s elegant two-hander SUMMER, 1976 is magnificently anchored by Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht

• By drediman
• April 26, 2023
• No Comments

Last night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, David Auburn’s new play Summer, 1976 opened courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club, marking the last new play entry on Broadway in an uncommonly crowded and competitive season. Set primarily in the Midwest, the play depicts the development of an intense but unlikely friendship between two women over the course of – you got it – the summer of 1976, and beyond.

On paper, the play may seem like a “safe” play for MTC to present, especially with sure-fire actresses of the caliber of film star Laura Linney and stage stalwart Jessica Hecht at the helm. It’s true, the gentle two-hander in no way breaks new ground, but not all new plays need to. Indeed, look more closely and there are immense, satisfying pleasures to be had. Auburn – who is perhaps best known for penning the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof – has written an unassuming yet subtly absorbing memory play that moves fluidly between the modes of first person narration and dialogue. The work is also elegantly meta-theatrical in a way that doesn’t call attention to itself. In Diana and Alice, the playwright has created two strong yet complicated women characters that audiences can cheer for, making pointed observations about female relationships along the way.

And in Linney and Hecht, you get two supremely skillful and gifted actresses who magnificently anchor the MTC production, bringing out the many shades of Diana and Alice, respectively, doing full justice to Auburn’s exquisitely eloquent writing. As if following suite, Daniel Sullivan’s staging is deceptively simple in the best possible way. In the veteran director’s hands, the production exudes a wistful, autumnal quality that befits the play’s focus on memory.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SUMMER, 1976
Broadway, Play
Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Through June 10