Producer

2014 Broadway Play at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre

Playwright: Terrance McNally

A wealthy first-time Broadway producer, Julia Budder, is throwing an opening night party for The Golden Egg at her luxurious Manhattan home. The playwright, Peter Austin, is joined by the director, a lead actor, and assorted friends and hangers-on (including a critic) as they nervously wait for the late-night reviews printed in the newspapers. As they wait, they gossip and name-drop celebrities who are in attendance and chat about their respective theater experiences. Virginia Noyes, the star of the show, is taking drugs. James Wicker, an old friend of the playwright, is now a successful TV actor who turned down the lead in the play, and is relieved and secretly thrilled about the bad reviews that arrive. And, although Ira Drew is a theater critic, he is very critical of the theater because he has no talent to actually participate, despite his secretly writing plays. Not discouraged by the bad reviews for The Golden Egg, the assembled parties eagerly make plans for their next play, which they know will be a hit.