Marsha Norman Critical Essay | Critical Review by Charles Isherwood

Critical Review by Charles Isherwood

SOURCE: Isherwood, Charles. Review of Trudy Blue, by Marsha Norman. Variety 377, no. 4 (6-12 December 1999): 94.

In the following review, Isherwood asserts that a December 1999 production of Trudy Blue does not live up to the potential of the play's dramatic premise.

Marsha Norman takes an alternately playful and somber trip through the mind of an ailing writer in Trudy Blue, a whimsical comedy-drama that will face unflattering comparisons to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which also premiered in Gotham at the MCC Theater, and treated in similar style the story of a literary femme facing cancer. Although Trudy Blue is not of Wit's caliber (come to think of it, Wit isn't quite all it's cracked up to be, either), Norman's play riffs on an intriguing idea and has its poignant moments. It also boasts an almost embarrassingly accomplished cast. But it doesn't live up to the promise of...
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