Wit

[foxy]

I saw it today and I thought it was extremely good. It's practically a one woman show despite a very good supporting cast of seven other actors. Cynthia Nixon is really amazing. To go through a performance like this day after day I wonder how she can find the emotional and physical strength. According to the program "Wit" is her 40th play. Also gives mention to her fiancee Christine. Cynthia stated in a recent interview that she considers being gay her choice which brought some criticism from the gay community.

[RockHard]

Cynthia Nixon is a very talented actress. She honed her stage chops long before the success of Sex and the City.

 

Wit is a great play and Nixon is perfectly cast. However, some people can't handle the subject of cancer in their entertainment. This play is not for the timid.

 

Cynthia stated in a recent interview that she considers being gay her choice which brought some criticism from the gay community.

 

There's a certain segment of the gay community which feels ridiculously threatened when a celebrity says something that doesn't support the "gay" political agenda. Radicals in denial exist everywhere.

 

Even though she dislikes the term bisexual, Cynthia has successfully executed intimate relationships with both sexes in her personal life. Even though many gay men cringe and recoil at the sight of pussy, there are a lot of men who enjoy pussy and cock, therefore, there are a lot of people who ultimately make a "choice" do be with one or the other.

 

No one really knows the genetic origins of sexual preference, and the science jury is not convinced that genes are the only source. It appears the true explanation may be very layered and complicated, and not at all black and white.

 

I don't know whether or not I was "born this way," but I do know my sexual attraction to maleness and cock became very apparent during puberty. I don't need scientific proof of biological origin to rub in opposing faces who cling to the dogma of organized religion (ie: Rick Santorum's constituency). I accept that the real truth may not be so simple or definitive. But then again, I'm not an insecure gay man cloaked in radical thought.

[skynyc]

Finally saw this on my MTC subscription and was very impacted. I had seen the play done years ago first with Kathleen Chalfont and then later with Judith Light. I have never seen the HBO production with Emma Thompson.

 

Seeing Miranda (sorry, couldn't resist) I mean Cynthia Nixon portray Vivian Bearing was a very different experience for me from when I saw it in 1998. It was the first time I had ever seen Chalfont, and the brittle nature of the character in the play made me keep her at arms length for the entire show. I appreciated the work, but didn't "get" it. And also, we were at the end of the AIDS crisis, and I wasn't going to let myself be hurt by anyone dying again.

 

Seeing it with Judith Light several months later, I was more inclined to let Dr. Bearing into my heart...I had seen Light for years, first on soaps and then on Who's the Boss. I liked her, I knew her, and I was willing to allow her protrayal to affect me.

 

But the times have changed, and I have changed, and I loved this portrayal of Vivian. Although the brittleness was certainly there, I could see hints of previous characters that Nixon has protrayed. She also seems more physically fragile than I had ever seen this character. And I was there 18 months ago when my father was crying in pain from the cancer in his bones.

 

SPOILER: (I don't think it's a spoiler that she dies...that's the theme of the play.) This spoiler is about the very end of the play, when her mentor, Evelyn Ashford, played in this production by Suzanne Bertish, comes to visit her. It's the first visitor she has had...and the drugs have all ready put Vivian into a stupor. But when Evelyn climbs into bed with her, and reads The Runaway Bunny to her, while holding her in her arms...(almost the first time Vivian has allowed anyone to touch her), I had tears streaming down my face.

 

The show has been extended for another week, and runs now through 3/17. I recommend it. The play deservedly won the Pulitzer...and in a Harper Lee-esque moment, is the only published work of the playwright Margaret Edson, whose vocation is that of an elementary school teacher in Georgia.

[foxy]

There was a nice article in The New York Times Arts and Leisure a few weeks ago on Margaret Edson. While most writers who had a highly successful play on Broadway would just keep doing more plays Ms. Edson seems happy and fulfilled with her teaching career and also seems in a happy relationship with her female partner. Her students are lucky to have her. I'm sure she is wonderful influence on so many young minds.