| By: | Tennessee Williams |
| Director: | David Warren |
| Sets: | Derek McLane |
| Costumes: | Martin Pakledinaz |
| Lighting: | Brian MacDevitt |
| Music and Sound: | John Gromada |
| Casting: | Pat McCorkle |
| Production Stage Manager: | Roy Harris |
| Opened: | 9/96 at the Roundabout, Criterion Center Stage Right |
| Cast: | Nathalie Paulding, Chad Aaron, Ken Jenkins, Roberta Maxwell, Harry Hamlin, Elisabeth Zambetti, Todd Weeks, James Pritchett, Mary McDonnell, Lisa Leguillou, Hayley Sparks, Celia Weston, Adam LeFevre and Emilio Del Pozo |
 Summer and Smoke Joan Marcus |
McDonnell's performance as Alma Winemiller, the lonely, unmarried minister's daughter hopelessly in love with her childhood crush, stands far and above the rest of this production. We're supposed to believe that Hamlin, although handsome, is a young medical student at home for a summer visit. Truth is, he's simply too old for the part. When the two childhood friends reconnect, it's easy to see why opposites attract. The physical, pleasure-seeking John represents Alma's repressed sexual longing. Alma, in turn, embodies an emotional capacity foreign to John. Even as the two begin to identify their weaknesses, their relationship is doomed, Tennessee Williams-style. Performances by the supporting cast (especially Weston and Weeks) are solid, but McDonnell's superior performance throws the rest of the production into the shadows.
