‘Summer, 1976’ an ode to women & friendship

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Jessica Hecht & Laura Linney. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

SUMMER, 1976
Written by David Auburn
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through June 10, 2023
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By David NouNou

Most New York theatregoers know that this is Tony crunch time and a plethora of shows open back-to-back in the last two weeks of April, jockeying for the best position for the prestigious and coveted awards. Some succeed in this maneuvering, but most of them fall by the wayside because they are all crashing into each other and ultimately face closure due to the glut in the market.

However, sometimes a beautiful gem manages to enter the fray, and this one is David Auburn’s Summer, 1976, an ode to women and friendship. You enter the theatre seeing an unassuming backyard. Two women walk in from opposite sides of the stage and sit across from each other. They are Diana (Laura Linney), the frosty, well-put-together, always neat woman, who has to have everything in its place; and Alice (Jessica Hecht), the more bohemian, disheveled, not-too-well-put together woman whose house is always a mess. Sort of like Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in Netflix’s Grace and Frankie might have been 30 years earlier, with one big difference: These women are real.

They start talking, breaking the fourth wall; they are talking to us and telling us how they met and had an instant dislike to each other. Their friendship resulted from each of them having a daughter and the two daughters bonded together, being inseparable and thus forcing the two women to warm up to each other and form a cordial friendship and opening up to us with their backstories; one sees the friendship and co-dependency growing and the events that took place that summer of 1976.

After being worn down from seeing my sixth consecutive show, I was amazed how I was being enveloped by this story. I was actually investing in these women and wanted to know more and more about them and what happens to them. Not that they were extraordinary wonder women; they were everyday women, who are moms, and some of them are wives; they are just navigating everyday life. What makes them so interesting is David Auburn’s brilliant, sensitive, and naturalistic writing. The humor comes from genuine feelings and conversation, not sitcom dialogue. There is honesty in the writing, and this filters out into the audience.

I have seen both Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht in about six different shows each, and I’ve admired their formidable talents. However, I have never seen them be so touching and vulnerable. They are both great technicians who deliver very good performances, but here I got to see two women and not actresses who let their guards down and see what a friendship and bond means to these two women. Their chemistry is theatrical magic.

Daniel Sullivan is a good director, but when given a great script, he outdoes himself. He has fine-tuned these two performances to shine brilliantly. Long after one leaves the theatre, as I am writing this review, I am still thinking about these two women and what became of them.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 30, 2023
Reviewed at April 29, 2023 press performance.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Laura Linney & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremey Daniel.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Jessica Hecht & Laura Linney. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Laura Linney & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.