MAD MEN star Elisabeth Moss will officially play the title role in an upcoming Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, opening in February 2015. Pam McKinnon is on board to direct, which will also star ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK's Jason Biggs as Scoop Rosenbaum and A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER's Bryce Pinkham as Peter Patrone. Tracee Chimo co-stars.
Ms. Moss, a superb actor who possesses an unusual ability to project innocence and smarts at the same time, inherits a role played by many since Joan Allen originated it...Fortunately, under the direction of Pam MacKinnon and in the hands of a fine supporting cast, notably Jason Biggs and Bryce Pinkham as the men in (and largely out) of Heidi's life, the play's humor retains its buoyancy, even when the specific matters at hand [...] have acquired the distancing patina of textbook history...For me, the moving heart of 'The Heidi Chronicles' remains the wonderful monologue in the second act. Heidi is speaking at a gathering of her high school alumnae, but instead of the usual manicured, upbeat speech, she delivers an off-the-cuff, emotionally exposed anecdote. It's really a play in itself, about the sense of alienation she felt that day from other women in a gym locker room: women she respects and admires, in some senses, but whose choices to pursue life's more superficial rewards leave her feeling 'stranded.' Ms. Moss, her eyes moistening even as her voice remains strong, delivers this beautiful speech with a grace that grows stronger as Heidi's peppery, self-aware humor gives way to lacerating honesty. Those are, as it happens, key notes in Wasserstein's durable play, and Ms. Moss and her collaborators in this sterling production sing them forth with a revitalizing warmth.
This is Wasserstein at her most trenchant, offering the kind of observation that earned The Heidi Chronicles both the Tony award and the Pulitzer Prize. I can't think either was for the dramaturgy; even when Heidi relents, describing her emotional dependence on unavailable men, she somehow remains aloof and maddeningly resistant to change. Meanwhile, everyone else, whom we drop in on less frequently, seems to change like crazy, in scenes (I almost said sketches) written so broadly they now seem dated. At least two of them - the rap-group meeting as well as an inane panel discussion in 1982 - have the stock setups and bright satirical tone of early Saturday Night Live, only instead of Gilda Radner we have Tracee Chimo.
1988 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1989 | Broadway |
Broadway |
2014 | St. Paul, MN (Regional) |
Guthrie Theater Production St. Paul, MN (Regional) |
2015 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Elisabeth Moss |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Bryce Pinkham |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Wendy Wasserstein |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Elisabeth Moss |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Bryce Pinkham |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | The Heidi Chronicles |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Elisabeth Moss |
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