People have been recommending this book to me for a number of years, and I finally got around to listening to it. It is easier here because of the difference in time and the softer quality of Vanessa Redgrave's voice as she has aged. (and that is ok for them) This play was so devastating to listen to back in the theater. I think a lot of those who get hung up on her talk about her home in California or travel are just using that as a defense mechanism to avoid thinking about loss. Grief is the same whether you are rich or poor. Some people say they cannot relate to the story because Joan Didion talks about a privileged life. I give her a lot of credit for going on with it despite how much it cost her. That would have been THE performance to see. Her daughter Natasha Richardson had died in March of 2009 and the performance was rescheduled for late October. That was a hard bit of the story for a mother (or anyone else sensitive like me.) Vanessa Redgrave was scheduled to do the play for a benefit at the Church of St. Every mother tells a child they are going to be ok unless they know for certain the child is dying and some do it even then. The only time they were EVER on time in New York to pick me up had to be the very day I would have liked more time! The part of the play I remember feeling so emotional about was at the end when she is asking if she lied to her daughter about the medical tests and care making her well.
She asked a woman how her mother was and asked that she tell her she was sorry she did not see her It was a very nice experience which was cut short by the arrival of my Supershuttle ride to the airport. He said the child was fine and back to everyday activities. She asked a man about his grandchild because the last time she saw him the child was very ill.
I watched as she spoke to people who are obviously longtime fans. She signed my program and an autobiography of hers from years before.
Someone I had talked to earlier told her I had flown up just for the play and she said she was touched that I had made that much of an effort. We were sad after the end of the play, but when she literally popped out of the theater and said hello we were immediately ok. Redgrave came out of the stage door after the performance she was wearing a VERY much washed and worn T-shirt and Jeans. The play was also different because she had an audience and she gets juiced because of them. I really wish they had recorded the original play for video and audio. Redgrave was 70 when she was in the play and now is 83 so there is a bit of a difference in her voice. There is a difference in the play and the recording. Sentences that begin with "if" are often magical thinking. That is a good example of magical thinking. In the early part she says she thinks he is still alive in California due to the time difference. I think people often do not understand what magical thinking is. It was very difficult to hear the pain and confusion. Redgrave sitting on the stage as if just telling us the story. I flew from Florida to NYC that morning so I was worried after hearing she had let the understudy take her place the night before. The evening before she had not been well and had canceled. She entered the theater looking really bad. I saw Vanessa Redgrave do the first run of The Year of Magical Thinking in 2007 on Broadway. The words here are from the one woman play of the same name. ** Important to know that this is a shorter version of the book by the same name available on Audible but not narrated by Vanessa Redgrave.
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