Wendy Wasserstein's lifelong friendships with, and failed crushes on, gay men are explored in the new biography Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
"The book is obviously longer than what you might find on the newsstand, but no more fastidiously written, as tightly focused but no more incisive. Still, it’s highly readable in the way profiles are, spinning a colorful narrative of failure and fame, disappointment and satisfaction, while hitting all the right marks: the fun vacation near Noël Coward’s former island retreat, the shopping and real estate, the socially validating guest lists, like this one from Wasserstein’s 2006 memorial service at Lincoln Center: “Many luminaries spoke or performed: playwrights Terrence McNally, William Finn and Christopher Durang; actors Meryl Streep, Joan Allen and Swoosie Kurtz; and directors Daniel Sullivan, André Bishop and James Lapine.”
The book does not go so deep as to discover who fathered Wendy's child (born when she was 48) which has never been revealed. Obviously that's not the most important thing about the Pulitzer-winning playwright, but one might expect a biographer to acknowledge the question. Evidently, secrets of parentage are a family thing: Wasserstein's mother decided "not to tell her younger kids that her first husband was their uncle, and that their two older siblings (half siblings, it turned out) were his offspring."
Wendy's comic novel Elements of Style [[Kindle
Julie doesn't ask the most important question: Why did Wendy continue with the fertilization treatments on and off for almost a decade when she KNEW they were going to kill her?
Posted by: David | August 27, 2011 at 06:50 AM