Summer, 1976,” which opened Tuesday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, generously provides — featuring the indomitable Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht.Not that you’re outside — even if Japhy Weideman’s sparkling lights warmly make you feel like you are — or that the show is all smiles.
One hour and 30 minutes with no intermission. At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street.Diana and Alice, two women who look back on their time on Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus, Ohio, where they grew close decades earlier, are quietly unsatisfied.
The budding friends helped each other through trauma while concealing embarrassing secrets.But the two-hander’s simply stated message, that “people aren’t just one thing,” is potently affirming, even in a play that’s apolitical and makes no attempts — as most Broadway shows do — at being epic or earth-shattering.
In a way, the story’s modesty allows emotion and meaning to suddenly sneak up on you. And, if you’ve seen Netflix’s “Ozark,” you know that Laura Linney can be sneaky.
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