The Sisters Rosensweig

Sisters Rosensweig, The (1992), a comedy by Wendy Wasserstein. [ Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, 556 perf.] The three Rosensweig sisters were born and bred in a very ethnic Brooklyn neighborhood, but each has come far in the world. Sara (Jane Alexander) is an international banker who has been married a few times and now finds herself attracted, against her better judgment, to the Jewish furrier Melvyn Kant (Robert Klein). Gorgeous Teitelbaum (Madeline Kahn) is famous in Boston for giving advice on her radio show. Pfeni (Frances McDormand) is a renowned travel writer in a dead‐end romance with the bisexual stage director Geoffrey Duncan (John Vickery). The three sisters meet at Sara's posh London flat to celebrate her fifty‐fourth birthday and reminisce about their ongoing relationship with their feminism and Jewishness. Daniel Sullivan directed the outstanding cast (Kahn won a Tony Award), and the comedy was so popular that Lincoln Center transferred it to Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre for a healthy run.

Wendy Wasserstein
1993

The Sisters Rosensweig, Wendy Wasserstein's play about the transformative power of love, of sisterhood, and of life, was directed by Daniel Sullivan at Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in New York City, opening in October 1992. Currently available in print, it was published in 1992 by the Dramatists Play Service in New York. The play is held together by the richly woven dialogue of three Jewish-American sisters pushing against the boundaries of their own lives in order to define themselves. Consequently, they do come to a point of resolution in their struggles, sometimes raising their voices in protest to be heard, at other times speaking softly in an attempt to hear themselves. Despite the absence of any action, the sisters manage to transform both themselves and their lives in the course of one evening. Another significant feature of the work is its ability to capture and make real several social and political issues that gave shape to the late part of the 1980s — the fall of the Soviet Union, Reaganomics, and the plight of the homeless, to name a few. In fact, the events discussed in the work are merely a reflection of what Wasserstein experienced in her own travels, first in eastern Europe, before the fall of the Soviet Union, and in Poland, in a town where she could see no evidence of her Jewish ancestry. It was her goal not only to raise certain political and social questions but also to illuminate her Jewish heritage, using her work as her vehicle. The play was admired by critics for its humor and insight, and it managed to earn the playwright both an Outer Critics Circle Award and an Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award nomination for best play in 1993.

The Sisters Rosensweig
Written by	Wendy Wasserstein
Characters	Sara 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 1 Production history 2 Critical response 3 Awards and nominations 4 References 5 External links

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.

Original Broadway Cast

• Sara Goode- Jane Alexander
• Gorgeous Teitelbaum- Madeline Kahn
• Mervyn Kant- Robert Klein
• Pfeni Rosensweig - Christine Estabrook
• Nicholas Pym- John Cunningham
• Tess Goode- Julie Dretzin
• Tom Valiunus- Patrick Fitzgerald
• Geoffrey Duncan- John Vickery

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."^[2]

Awards and nominations

Outer Critics Circle Award

^[3]

• Best Broadway Play (winner)
• Best Actor (Play) Robert Klein (winner)
• Best Actress (Play) Madeline Kahn (winner)
• Best Actress (Play) Jane Alexander (nominee)
• Best Director (Play) (winner)

Tony Award

• Best Play (nominee)
• Best Actress in a Play Madeline Kahn (winner)
• Best Actress in a Play Jane Alexander (nominee)
• Best Costume Design Jane Greenwod (nominee)
• Best Direction of a Play (nominee)

Drama Desk Award

• Outstanding New Play (nominee)
• Outstanding Actress in a Play Jane Alexander (winner)
• Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Robert Klein (nominee)
• Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Madeline Kahn (winner)
• Outstanding Director of a Play (nominee)

References

1. ^ Herrington, Joan. The playwright's muse (2002), Routledge, ISBN 0815337795, p. 35
2. ^ Gussow, Mel."Review/Theater; Wasserstein: Comedy, Character, Reflection",The New York Times, October 23, 1992
3. ^ Outer Critics Circle Award, 1992-1993outercritics.org, accessed May 21, 2009

External links

• The Internet Broadway Database entry for "The Sisters Rosenweig"
• Internet Off-Broadway Database listing

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