A new production of Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer and Tony winning play "The Heidi Chronicles" has just opened on Broadway with Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men" fame in the title role. NY1’s Roma Torre this this review.
In 1988 when it premiered, “The Heidi Chronicles” was revelatory. Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prize winning play spoke to all my feminist women friends and me about our tenuous roles in a society where men still called the shots. Like Heidi, we were desperate to push the boundaries, and we did want to have it all, but we finally came to the realization it was an impossible dream. With this first Broadway revival, we see an eloquent chronicle of a pivotal chapter in history. However, it is a play past its prime.
When we first meet her, Heidi Holland is a bright, unsettled art historian delivering a lecture on neglected women artists over the centuries. The action jumps back to 1965 when Heidi, an awkward high school student, meets her soulmate, another misfit, named Peter. Leaping ahead several years, she is at a Eugene McCarthy rally where she encounters the very arrogant Scoop Rosenbaum, whose confidence Heidi finds irresistibly attractive.
The play takes us through the Women’s Liberation years populated by the eager, anxious, sometimes silly faces of the movement. All the while Heidi remains an informed spectator, as she calls herself, never able to find fulfillment. Gender politics has certainly changed for women today but the play still hits home as a study of youthful idealism fading into the sobering reality of middle age.
Jason Biggs needs a little more charisma in a difficult role that verges on being hopelessly chauvinistic. Bryce Pinkham is perfect, blending humor and drama with great finesse.
And Elizabeth Moss, who’s graced TV screens in “Mad Men,” is equally appealing on stage. She’s a refreshing, natural presence; even when yielding the spotlight, she captivates.
Though dated, and at more than two and a half hours, overwritten, “The Heidi Chronicles" under Pam MacKinnon’s thoughtful direction remains an invaluable work reminding us how far we've truly come.