Have You Seen The Heidi Chronicles?

[JPeterman]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 8:14pm

Has anyone seen the Heidi Chronicles before and have an opinion about it they would like to share?

I am trying to decide if I should see the new rendition that is about to open during my next visit in March and I have never seen it, and I only know the little bit about it I have read.

Any information or opinion about the play itself would be welcomed, thanks

Updated On: 1/27/15 at 08:14 PM

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 8:49pm

Yes. I saw it three times on Broadway, with Joan Allen, Christine Lahti and the best, a pre-"Dances With Wolves" (she might have just returned from filming it) Mary McDonnell. I love a play where we travel the years with the protagonist and their lovers and friends. It's the ultimate journey and Heidi's is set against the Women's Movement. It's moving and very funny.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:05pm

If you're that concerned, you may want to check out the cable movie version with Jamie Lee Curtis that Wendy adapted herself. I can't attest to how close it is to the play, but I enjoyed it well enough and it should give you some idea. There are several long clips on youtube.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 11:14pm

Unless you're really interested in seeing the actors, I'd skip it. I've always found it to be boring plot wise and now it's just outdated with it's feminist message.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 8:16am

I've always found it to be boring plot wise and now it's just outdated with it's feminist message.

Not even close.

I've seen two recent professional productions (including the Guthrie's excellent staging this past fall) and the play holds up extremely well. I'm looking forward to catching it on Broadway. And the Broadway cast is top-notch.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 8:21am

I'm a fan, too. Can't see how the message is outdated at all or irrelevant.

I'm hoping to catch this. There is just so much I want to see this spring/ summer - not sure where my wallet will let me down!

[newintown]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 9:07am

I saw the original twice - once with Allen, once with McDonnell. I found it more entertaining the first time; the second viewing revealed the cracks.

It's a perfectly fine play, but I can't imagine anyone calling it a classic or a necessary candidate for the American theatre repertoire. I prefer Uncommon Women and Others, as I found Wasserstein said her one thing in that earlier play in a more interesting and less tidy way. The Sisters Rosensweig is a funnier play.

My main complaint about Heidi is that the heroine is just dang saintly; she's so clean and radiant, she's not much like a person. She reaches an almost religious apotheosis by the time she gets into that rocking chair at the end.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about how the play reflects Wasserstein's real-life inability to really connect with women (feeling ultimately betrayed by them) or men (not trusting straight men, and feeling ultimately abandoned by gay men). Perhaps that's already been written about at length.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 9:54am

"Can't see how the message is outdated at all or irrelevant."

Because women sit around in circles and examine their vaginas once a week. I'm sure there's a whole page on Facebook dedicated to it.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 3:05pm

It's still legal to pay a woman less than a man for doing the exact same job.
Choice is constantly under attack.
Rape is rampant.
Women's lives (and bodies) are threatened when they write/tweet/say things that men don't like.


Yup. Feminist messages are outdated because we've come so far.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 4:01pm

"It's still legal to pay a woman less than a man for doing the exact same job."

No it's not legal.

"Rape is rampant"

No, it's just people like Lena Dunham need attention and make it seem that way.


And even if anything you said was true, The Heidi Chronicles is not going to solve any of those issues. It's an outdated play that wasn't that good to begin with.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/28/15 at 6:33pm

Since when is it a play's job to solve anything? It's job is to tell a story and hopefully make the audience think and feel. That's it.


Shall we start a thread entitled "Today's Rape"? This has nothing to do with any celebrity.

[EthelMae]

Posted: 1/29/15 at 12:47am

Saw it with Joan Allen and loved it. Has one beautiful scene after the next. Great scenes for actors for scene classes.
I am partial to the play. Did it in community theatre. Played Boyd Gaines' part and just had such a great time doing it and bonding with cast.
Looking forward to this new production.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/29/15 at 1:29am

I have to say reading all this makes me so annoyed at their advertisements. Like the title being pink is just so stupid and so someone's idea of a "girly" play. And secondly, it makes the whole show look like a stupid romantic comedy love triangle.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/29/15 at 2:00am

Saw it early with Joan Allen (PH) and then late with Mary McDonnell, who made the most poignant and moving case for the piece. I am not a fan of the TV movie, as well done as it is, because the play is not pure naturalism (few plays are) and the script belongs on a stage, with distance between audience and performance. Like many plays, with the camera atop its take on "reality," the strain of theatricality is pronounced. And the casting wasn't spot-on. But the play moved so many and had such a profound impact. The one monologue, the big second act bravura speech, defines the era and the moment for women and the movement. It's likely doubly moving (ironically so) today, as woman fight for fundamental rights anew. I'm more a fan of its artistic intentions than its achievements, dramatically, not politically speaking. But reading a handful of privileged white men dismiss the work as agitprop only makes its potency and relevance that much more potentially powerful in a revival.

Updated On: 1/29/15 at 02:00 AM