#44: “Wendy and the Lost Boys” by Julie Salamon
Remember when I said that “Free for All” was the best book I’ve read in a long time? (And, if I’ve spoken to you about it in person, how it’s the best book about theatre I’ve ever read?) Well, this biography is now taking good ol’ Joe Papp’s place.
Once I got past the uninteresting (for me) chapter about Wendy’s grandparents and parents — basically everything pre-Wasserstein’s birth — I could not put this book down. Which is good, because it was a whopping 480 pages and there was someone in the queue after me, so I couldn’t renew it.
Wasserstein was an acquired taste for me. I first read what I refer to as “the trio” — “Isn’t it Romantic,” “Uncommon Women and Others,” and “The Heidi Chronicles” — when I was an undergrad looking for audition monologues. Years later, once I was sure I was a playwright and not an actor, I read “The Heidi Chronicles” for a Women Playwrights course. I loved it. I couldn’t stop talking about it. I felt understood by a stranger.
That’s kind of what reading this biography was like. I felt a kinship with Wendy; more personal this time because she wasn’t hiding behind her plays. I’d recommend it to any Wasserstein fan.
Only one other person checked this out from the library before me. I’m pretty sure that person is my soulmate.
