“Love Letters conquers all!” – NBC New York.
A beloved play by A.R. Gurney, Love Letters is a disarmingly funny and unforgettably emotional portrait about the powerful connection of love. In this series, Postcards from Love Letters, the upcoming cast shares with Broadway Direct readers their passion for the play in their own words. In this installment, we hear from stage and screen legends Candice Bergen & Alan Alda, who will appear in Love Letters November 9th-December 5th at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Get tickets.
Candice Bergen:
This play is a perfect little piece. Alan and I have read it together a few times now and it only gets better with each try. It has surprising depth and great wisdom. It is a wonderfully observed comedy of manners. Gurney really knows these people. Or, at least, he makes you believe he does. And it moves us every time we read it.
I liked the play very much and thought both the characters are beautifully drawn. And, of course, I wanted to work with Alan, who is a friend. I leapt at the chance to do it.
I have kept most of the letters I have gotten in my life that meant something to me. For fifty years. My late husband, Louis Malle, was a brilliant letter-writer and I cherish his letters. Obviously, letter-writing has fallen from fashion because communicating has moved on to something that involves seconds rather than many minutes. But it also doesn’t involve any thought or reflection, which is a great loss. The character of Andy loves writing letters because the very act forces him to confront how he feels about something, forces him to try to understand it. It is also a way to tell someone how you feel about them that takes courage and time and thought. It is as important to write it as it is to receive it.
I understand some few people are beginning, once again, to write each other — to recapture the intimacy of putting personal thoughts on paper. That, it seems to me, can only be a good thing.
Alan Alda:
I love this play. It’s about love, but there isn’t a moment in it that’s gooey. It’s tough. And funny.
It has to be tough, because it’s about real love — not just the kind that comes over you like a fever when your hormones and hers mix in an intoxicating cocktail. Instead, it’s about the harder kind of love, the kind that goes on for years, and you have to constantly adjust to this person who keeps coming into sharper focus. And you do adjust because something inside you is rooting for something inside her.
And it has to be funny because A.R. Gurney has this gorgeous ability to let characters rub up against each other in ways that make you laugh, because that’s all you can do when you realize how hard love can be between humans.
Full Schedule:
CAROL BURNETT & BRIAN DENNEHY
Oct. 11 – Nov. 8 ~ 34 performances only
ALAN ALDA & CANDICE BERGEN
Nov. 9 – Dec. 5 ~ 26 performances only
STACY KEACH & DIANA RIGG
Dec. 6 – Jan. 9 ~ 40 performances only
ANJELICA HUSTON & MARTIN SHEEN
Jan. 10 – Feb. 15 ~ 43 performances only
And many more brilliant casts to be announced! Get tickets now.