The Sisters Rosensweig

Last updated
The Sisters Rosensweig
Written by Wendy Wasserstein
CharactersSara Goode
Gorgeous Teitelbaum
Mervyn Kant
Pfeni Duncan
Nicholas Pym
Tess Goode
Tom Valinus
Geoffrey Duncan
Setting London, England; August 1991

The Sisters Rosensweig is a play by Wendy Wasserstein. The play focuses on three Jewish-American sisters and their lives. It "broke theatrical ground by concentrating on a non-traditional cast of three middle-aged women." [1] Wasserstein received the William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in American Theatre for this play.

Contents

Production history

The play first opened in April 1992 at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

It premiered off-Broadway in a Lincoln Center Theater production at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater on October 22, 1992, and closed on February 28, 1993, after 149 performances. Directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, the cast included Jane Alexander and Madeline Kahn.

It transferred to Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 18, 1993, and closed on July 16, 1994, after 556 performances. Again directed by Sullivan, the Broadway cast remained the same as off-Broadway, except that Christine Estabrook took the role of "Pfeni" for Frances McDormand. Notable replacements include Linda Lavin as Gorgeous Teitelbaum and Michael Learned as Sara Goode. [2]

Original Broadway Cast

London production

It premiered at the Greenwich Theatre in 1994, [3] where it was directed by Michael Blakemore and the sisters were played by Janet Suzman, Maureen Lipman, and Lynda Bellingham. The play transferred to the Old Vic in September 1994 [4]

Digital production

Released on May 20, 2021, there was a livestreamed production of the play to benefit the Actors' Fund, the Theater Development Fund's Wendy Wasserstein Project, and the Steppenwolf Theater Company. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the company's artistic director, it featured Lisa Edelstein, Kathryn Hahn, and Tracee Chimo Pallero as the three sisters. It also featured Jason Alexander, Kathryn Newton and James Urbaniak.

Plot

Sara, who lives in London, is a representative for a major Hong Kong bank and is about to turn 54. Her sisters, Gorgeous Teitelbaum and Pfeni Rosensweig, arrive to help celebrate the birthday. Gorgeous is Dr. Gorgeous with a radio-advice program; Pfeni is a world traveler. Various friends and boyfriends also arrive for the party. In particular, Mervyn, a friend of Pfeni's boyfriend Geoffrey, falls instantly in love with Sara.

Concept

Wasserstein said that the play is "about being Jewish." She "wanted to write a play that celebrated the possibilities of a middle-aged woman who, unlike her other protagonists, does not end up alone." [5]

Critical response

The New York Times review of the original production wrote that the play is: "...[a] captivating look at three uncommon women and their quest for love, self-definition and fulfillment. But underlying the comedy is an empathetic concern for the characters and for the prospects of women today. At the same time, the play has its imperfections. There are gratuitous remarks and irrelevancies." [6]

Awards and nominations

Outer Critics Circle Award

[7]

Tony Award

Drama Desk Award

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Alexander</span> American actress

Jane Alexander is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, Alexander served as the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drama Desk Award</span> New York theater awards

The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeline Kahn</span> American actress (1942–1999)

Madeline Gail Kahn was an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is known for comedic roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including What's Up, Doc? (1972), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), and her Academy Award–nominated role in Paper Moon (1973).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Lavin</span> American actress and singer

Linda Lavin is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Wasserstein</span> American playwright (1950–2006)

Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for her play The Heidi Chronicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Ryan</span> American actress (born 1968)

Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee.

Christine Estabrook is an American actress, known for her roles on the television series The Crew, Nikki, Desperate Housewives, and American Horror Story; she had a recurring role on the drama Mad Men during the show's fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. Estabrook has received an Obie Award and Drama Desk Award.

Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play</span> Award for role in Broadway play

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The award is given to actresses for quality leading roles in a Broadway play. Despite the award first being presented in 1947, there were no nominees announced until 1956. There have been two ties in this category, and one three-way tie.

Joseph Cotter Smith is an American stage, film, and television actor.

Daniel John Sullivan is an American theatre and film director and playwright.

<i>A Moon for the Misbegotten</i> A play in four acts by Eugene ONeill

A Moon for the Misbegotten is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. The play is a sequel to O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, with the Jim Tyrone character as an older version of Jamie Tyrone. He began drafting the play late in 1941, set it aside after a few months and returned to it a year later, completing the text in 1943 – his final work, as his failing health made it physically impossible for him to write. The play premiered on Broadway in 1957 and has had four Broadway revivals, plus a West End engagement.

<i>The House of Blue Leaves</i> Play written by John Guare

The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare which premiered Off-Broadway in 1971, and was revived in 1986, both Off-Broadway and on Broadway, and was again revived on Broadway in 2011. The play won the Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play and the Obie Award for Best American Play in 1971. The play is set in 1965, when Pope Paul VI visited New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine Andreas</span> American Broadway actress and singer

Christine Andreas is an American Broadway actress and singer.

<i>The Tale of the Allergists Wife</i>

The Tale of the Allergist's Wife is a play by Charles Busch.

<i>Side Man</i> Play by Warren Leight

Side Man is a memory play by Warren Leight. His inspiration was his father Donald, who worked as a sideman, in jazz parlance a musician for hire who can blend in with the band or star as a solo performer, according to what is required by the gig.

Patricia Jane Collins was an American lighting designer.

Third is the last play written by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2005. The play involves a female professor and her interactions with a student.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">47th Tony Awards</span> 1993 awards ceremony

The 47th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS from the Gershwin Theatre in New York City on June 6, 1993. The host was Liza Minnelli.

The Heiress is a 1947 play by American playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted from the 1880 Henry James novel Washington Square. Two years later, the play was adapted into the film The Heiress starring Olivia de Havilland.

References

  1. ↑ Herrington, Joan. The playwright's muse (2002), Routledge, ISBN   0-8153-3779-5, p. 35
  2. ↑ Listing, Broadway ibdb.com, accessed March 4, 2015
  3. ↑ Coveney, Michael (2006-02-01). "Wendy Wasserstein". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  4. ↑ "The West End stage in September 1994". London theatre tickets. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  5. ↑ Balakian, Jan. "Wendy Wasserstein Article" jwa.org, March 1, 2009
  6. ↑ Gussow, Mel."Review/Theater; Wasserstein: Comedy, Character, Reflection",The New York Times, October 23, 1992
  7. ↑ Outer Critics Circle Award, 1992-1993 Archived 2008-05-05 at the Wayback Machine outercritics.org, accessed May 21, 2009
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.