''Women of Manhattan'' is a play written by

John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...

and originally produced in 1986.

Production

''Women of Manhattan'' premiered Off-Broadway in a

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...

production at the City Center Theater on May 26, 1986, and closed on June 15, 1986, after 25 performances. Directed by Ron Lagomarsino, the cast featured Nancy Mette as Billie,

J. Smith-Cameron Jean Isabel Smith (born September 7, 1957), credited professionally as J. Smith-Cameron, is an American actress. She spent a majority of her career in theatre but began transitioning to film and television later in life. She is known for her suppo ...

as Rhonda, Jayne Haynes as Judy, Keith Szarabajka and Tom Wright.Gussow, Mel
"Stage: From Shanley, 'Women Of Manhattan'"
''The New York Times'', May 26, 1986 The play was revived in New York City by

The Barrow Group The Barrow Group is a non-profit performing arts group located in New York City focused on empowering actors, writers, and directors through simple, clear, spontaneous storytelling. The company prioritizes accessibility, diversity, and excellence, ...

, at the John Houseman Studio Theater, running from May 30, 1997, officially on June 6, and ending June 29, 1997. The play was produced in Santa Ana, California, in a Way Off Broadway production in February and March 1990.Smith, Mark Chalon
"Stage Review : Love Is Topic for the 'Women of Manhattan'"
''Los Angeles Times'', February 21, 1990 The play ran in San Francisco at the Next Stage in January 1999.Moore, Michael Scott

''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards ...

''. January 13, 1999, accessed January 19, 2014

Plot overview

The play revolves around the lives of three women who are living in the Upper West Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Rhonda has recently split with her boyfriend, Billie is married, and Judy is considered a "

fag hag A fag hag is, in gay slang, a woman who associates either mostly or exclusively with gay and bisexual men. The phrase originated in gay male culture in the United States and was historically an insult. Some women who associate with gay men obje ...

" by the other two as she often unknowingly dates men who turn out to be homosexual.

Critical response

Robert Coe wrote "this play, while beautifully written and complete, feels a little weightless", while a critic reviewing the 1999 San Francisco production for ''SF Weekly'' called it "an ordinary play, universal without being timeless".

Mel Gussow Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', wrote: "These are the upper depths, specifically, the Upper West Side where conversation automatically becomes competitive, where everyone's consciousness is raised by the elixir of trendiness. The intention may have been to write a kind of Noel Coward comedy of Columbus Avenue, but the result mistakes brittleness for wit. Archness finishes in a dead heat with artificiality." The AP reviewer called the play a "slender character study masquerading as a play." The ''Los Angeles Times'' reviewer of the 1990 production noted: "Of course, providing accessible characters is one of Shanley's trademarks. He's written many, in both his plays ('Danny and the Deep Blue Sea' and 'Savage in Limbo') and screenplays ('Moonstruck'), and it's no surprise that we can get close to this threesome. That's really 'Women's' strength, and what makes it enough of a pleasure." In reviewing the 1997 New York revival, the ''New York Times'' reviewer wrote: "In less capable hands, the trials of these lonely women in this light comedy of Upper West Side manners would be exercises in archness. But the trio of actresses who portray them -- Katie Davis as Billie, Fiona Gallagher as Rhonda Louise and especially Elizabeth Hanly Rice as Judy -- are so at home with Mr. Shanley's biting, smart-girl banter that ''Women of Manhattan'' radiates a surprising urbanity and wit...Mr. Shanley's 90-minute play consists of four vignettes in the social lives of the young women, the sharpest being a hilarious brunch in Rhonda's apartment that explicates the three unequal sides of their triangular relationship. The playwright and the director, Paul Rice, appreciate the high drama in the minor problems that overwhelm these 30-ish women..."Marks, Peter
Theater in Review"
''The New York Times'', June 18, 1997

Notes

References

* Coe, Robert

''American Theatre''. Retrieved December 16, 2005.

External links

''Women of Manhattan'' Script, Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1986
{{John Patrick Shanley Plays by John Patrick Shanley 1986 plays