Tony Award winner Linda Lavin and director Lynne Meadow, who collaborated on MTC’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, reunite for a new production of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies' celebrated drama. Collected Stories chronicles the relationship between two female writers: Ruth Steiner (Lavin), a celebrated New York author with a dry wit and a distinguished career; and her bright-eyed young protégé, Lisa Morrison. As their relationship evolves and the line between fact and fiction starts to blur, their fascinating story comes to an explosive conclusion.
As good actors age — perhaps a more felicitous word would be mature — they learn how to do more with less. Consider the left eyebrow of Linda Lavin, the veteran star of the new revival of Donald Margulies’s “Collected Stories.” At one point in this durable drama about the manners and morals of writers, Ms. Lavin raises said eyebrow by perhaps half an inch. She says nary a word, and doesn’t move any other muscle, but still communicates with this minimal gesture more than a lesser actor might squeeze from a long monologue. She gets a solid laugh too.
Anyone who takes acting seriously would walk a Broadway mile to see Linda Lavin play a distinguished but earthy author who is betrayed by the adoring protege who worms into her reclusive life. Pulitzer Prize-winning scribe Donald Margulies deftly if oh-so-laboriously lays out the groundwork for the final confrontation that allows Lavin to rip her guts out. Manhattan Theater Club a.d. Lynne Meadow, who previously directed Lavin in 'The Tale of the Allergist's Wife' and helms here, respects her star's firepower and has hired a classy tech-team to prove it. But lordy, lordy, what a boring play it is.
1997 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1998 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2010 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Linda Lavin |
1997 | The Pulitzer Prize | The Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Donald Margulies |
1997 | The Pulitzer Prize | The Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Donald Margulies |
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