Redgrave and Didion Featured on CBS, January 27

Author Joan Didion and actress Vanessa Redgrave/> will be featured on WCBS's "The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend" special airing Saturday, January 27, 7-8PM (Channel 2, EST).  Check local listings for airdates and times outside of New York.

The special features excerpts from a sold-out "Times Talk" discussion with Joan Didion and Vanessa Redgrave/> about the upcoming Broadway play The Year of Magical Thinking, which kicked off the Arts & Leisure Weekend earlier this month.

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion based on her memoir, starring Vanessa Redgrave/> and directed by David Hare/>, opens on Broadway on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street). Preview performances begin Tuesday, March 6, 2007. This is a limited engagement for 24 weeks only.

"In The Year of Magical Thinking, Vanessa Redgrave/> relives an almost unfathomably shocking period in Joan Didion's life.  Capturing the compassion, humor, and stark bewilderment of a fiercely intelligent woman whose world lurches suddenly from the ordinary to the unimaginable, The Year of Magical Thinking is a love letter to a child and a tribute to an extraordinary, unconventional marriage, told with raw candor and a brilliant storyteller's gift for the absurd," according to press materials.

A member of the acclaimed theatrical dynasty that also includes her late father Michael and her sister Lynn, the British-born Redgrave received a Tony Award for her performance in A Long Day's Journey Into Night. She had previously appeared on Broadway in Orpheus Descending and The Lady from the Sea, as well as having appeared in a number of shows in the West End; she recently appeared at the Kennedy Center in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hecuba. An Academy Award-winner for Julia, she also garnered nods for her performances in the films Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, Isadora, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Bostonians, and Howard's End.

Didion is one of America's most acclaimed writers, having worked as a journalist, essayist novelist and screenwriter. Her novels include Play It As It Lays and Run River, her books of essays include Slouching Towards Bethlehem and screenplays (written in collaboration with Dunne) include Panic in Needle Park, A Star is Born and Up Close and Personal.

Tickets for The Year of Magical Thinking are available by calling Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area, online at Telecharge.com, and at the Booth Theatre box office (222 West 45th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue).

Visit www.magicalthinkingonbroadway.com for more information.

Photo - Vanessa Redgrave