My Own Take: Off-Broadway's 'An American Daughter'

What makes this production special:?: It has some solid actors in the cast, including Robert Sean Leonard, Montego Glover, Dakin Matthews and Mary Beth Peil.

Also: The production is a revised version of Wasserstein’s 1997 Broadway play and one that received mixed to negative notices — and one very supportive one from Linda Winer. Wasserstein subsequently reworked the play — her most politically topical; some versions had minor changes and some substantial, especially in the second act. The last major production of the play was in 2016 at the Williamstown Theater Festival.

And this production?: This theater company looked at eight versions of the script, including a pre-Broadway workshop in 1996 in Seattle (with Wasserstein’s pal Meryl Streep in the lead. Streep did not to follow the show to Broadway. Kate Nelligan took over the role. Hal Holbrook, Peter Riegert and Lynn Thigpen were also in the cast.)

There were also the Dramatists Play Service version; the Harcourt Brace version; a version from a 1998 mounting with Chicago's Organic Theater Company; a version from a 1999 Long Wharf Theatre production (which I saw that starred Janet Zarish, directed by Derek Anson Jones who also directed “Wit”). The company also looked at the teleplay from the 2000 Lifetime movie, and a script from the 2003 Arena Stage production.

The press material for this production says that this version is primarily the first act of the Broadway version and the second act is primarily the one from Chicago. Wasserstein, who was diagnosed with cancer late in 2001, died in 2006 at the age of 55.

You said this was her political play: During the Clinton administration in the ‘90s, several of the president’s cabinet nominees — Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, and Lani Guinier — faced intense scrutiny over minor personal issues, de-railing the nominations. Wasserstein’s storyline reflects some of those issues.

What’s is this play about?: Set in the ‘90s, Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes, a women’s health care expert and the liberal daughter of a longtime conservative Republican U.S. Senator, has just been nominated for Surgeon General. (The family are also descendants of Ulysses S. Grant.) But a minor infraction from her past — failure to respond to a jury duty notice and an offhanded quip about traditional women’s roles (think Hillary’s brownies gaff) — are pounced upon by the media. (How quaint those media storms seem in today’s extreme political and media era.)

The play deals with how the fallout affects her friends and family as she tries to manage the media storm which threatens her nomination.

And this production?: Disappointing, to say the least.

Jean Lichty, who is executive director of the theater company that is producing the work, is Lyssa and Lichty not up to the task of making her character compelling or even believable. Her emotionally flat and declamatory speaking voice — with the exception of her big second act speech — makes the character one in which you wouldn’t want to spend much time, much less a two-and-a-half hour play. She projects tentativeness and is obtuse to where the humor is in the script.

Saving graces were two senior pros: Dakin Matthews as Lyssa’ s father and Mary Beth Peil as his wife, both delivered first-rate performances and made the most of what little they were given to play. Chris Ghaffari also was spot-on as the handsome, ingratiating and duplicitous newsman. (But did director Sarfna Lapine want to signal that he might be gay? There seemed to be a hint of that without follow-up or particular purpose — and only further muddled the messy dramaturgical work.)

Some of Lapine’s staging just seemed clunky or were head-scratchers: An intimate confessional monologue about a possible suicide is delivered at the apron of the stage, about 10 feet away from the person she was confiding. It was just one bizarre moment, one of many staging choices of people coming and going and moving about with little motivation, purpose or timing.

Much of the troubles are with the script itself. Lyssa’s best friend (played by Montego Glover) could have been from another play and whose narrative seemed to be removed from this work’s focus. (The character could be dropped from the play without significant impact.) An indiscretion that is revealed was a eyeball rolling cliche waiting to happen — and it did, exactly on cue; a marital crisis is dealt with oddly and indifferently; the character of an ambitious feminist media star (Carmen Zilles) is a caricature, and not a particularly fun one.

Robert Sean Leonard as Lyssa’s husband brought an ease — and stage presence — to the production, but could do little with the bland and underwritten role.

But the issues the play brings up…": …Are certainly still relevant today, Accomplished women — especially in positions of power in politics, the corporate world or in every day life — are still being trivialized or demonize. But the writing — dotted with namedropping and pop culture references (which gets some nostalgic chuckles) are shallow talking points with supposedly articulate characters spouting cliches instead of participating in an enriching conversation of differing perspectives. Wasserstein only scratches the surface. And Shavian it ain’t. (Perhaps I was especially disappointed in the work because I had just seen “Birthright,” which was so much richer in political and sociological nuance.)

All photos by Joan Marcus

The show: Wendy Wasserstein’s “An American Daughter” at off-Broadway’s Pershing Square Signature Center, in a production by La Femme Theatre Productions, dedicated “to telling women's stories.”

Who will like it?: Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, and Lani Guinier and supporters of women’s issues who may be more likely to forgive imperfect dramaturgy. Wendy’s fans — and she was beloved. (I sat next to her at a theater gala once and was never so charmed by a dinner companion.

Who won’t?: Conservatives, and those looking for sharp writing.

For the kids?: Even with half the running time — 2 and a half hours and it feels it — they would be bored.

Looking into the future?: This production won’t inspire other productions.

Thoughts on leaving the parking lot?: I was so hoping to see a discovered a lost gem by a playwright whose work I hadn't seen in decades. But no. Still, I’d suggest others to go spelunking for “The Sisters Rosensweig,” Wasserstein’s much better play that his also rarely revived. (At least I remember it being engaging.)

Info: The show continues through Sept. 20. at the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 420 W 42nd St., New York City. Performance chedule: Tuesday to Saturday at 7 p.m. ; matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Infrormation: LaFemmeTheatreProductions.org