Laura Linney's most recent Broadway venture was one of her most fulfilling. And it is now available for all to listen to thanks to Audible Theater—an Audible Original series that showcases audio versions of top plays—often with original cast members reprising their stage roles.
Summer, 1976 received such treatment with the three-time Oscar nominee and four-time Emmy winner returning to her role to record the 85-minute play.
"The great thing about how Audible does this is that they get us at the end of a run, after we've been doing it for a long time and it's in very good shape," said Linney, whose run in the two-woman play at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in New York City lasted from April 25 through June 18 of 2023.
Directed by Daniel Sullivan and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn, Summer, 1976 chronicles the lives of two young mothers as they forge an unlikely bond during the summer of America's Bicentennial.
"The story is about female friendship — when it happens very quickly, very intensely, and then leaves in a sort of similar fashion," Linney told Newsweek in an exclusive interview. "Those very short relationships can have a profound impact on your life."
Linney's character, Diana, is a self-denying, harshly critical single mother whose young daughter pulls her into a friendship with Alice — the laid-back neighboring mother of her daughter's favorite playmate. Jessica Hecht (Friends, Dan in Real Life), plays Alice, a character Linney describes as "hippyish," "discombobulated," and the "more relaxed" of the two. Linney describes her own character as an "enigmatic, showy, and overly verbose" individual, and is grateful "not a whole lot about her was relatable to me."
Summer, 1976 was always intended to be a limited engagement on Broadway, and it quickly won over audiences and critics alike. It was praised by The New York Times as a "bittersweet, comic memory play," headlined by a "gorgeous duo."
And while many audio-only productions are broken up so that each part is recorded by individual participants separately, Linney and Hecht captured Summer, 1976 together while sitting across from each other during a single recording session.
"I couldn't (perform this character) without Jessica and I don't think I'm being arrogant to say that I don't think she could do hers without me," Linney told Newsweek. "Jessica is a divine human being and a sublime partner to have."
So Many Attempts to Rip Off the 'Love Actually' Style
Another creative Linney has loved collaborating with is Richard Curtis, the screenwriter and director behind films like Four Weddings and a Funeral and About Time. "Richard is somehow able to fashion material that's very tricky to pull off, but because he's so authentically kind and warm and good, it works," she told Newsweek.
She worked with Curtis on the 2003 holiday rom-com Love Actually — a story that chronicles multiple couples falling in or out of love at Christmastime. The beloved film showcases a who's who of British acting royalty including Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Colin Firth.
"Filming was an amazing experience with a fantastic ensemble of actors," Linney told Newsweek. "I loved being in that company, and I became very close with many of those people and we continue to stay in touch."
Her character, Sarah, was one of the few people in the film who didn't end up with the person she loved (Karl, played by Rodrigo Santoro) after she instead chose to take care of her mentally ill brother. Curtis made up for this loss more than a decade later with the release of the television special, Red Nose Day Actually. (The 15-minute short was created to raise funds to support the Red Nose Day campaign to end child poverty.) Though the full cast ensemble didn't make it back for the mini sequel, revisiting Linney's character was arguably the best part of the story as it was revealed that Sarah finally got the ending she deserved by being happily married to none other than newly crowned Sexiest Man Alive, Patrick Dempsey.
Asked if that means Sarah's story doesn't need further telling, Linney replied "who knows?" but didn't rule out the possibility of a full sequel taking place someday. "I certainly don't believe there are any plans for a sequel to happen," she told Newsweek, but "perhaps" she will be part of it if there ever is.
"It depends on who else is doing it," she said. Curtis is one person who would need to participate for her to be tempted though. "There have been so many attempts to rip off the Love Actually style in other films and they never work," she said. "And the reason they don't work is that none of them have come from Richard Curtis."
Summer, 1976 is available exclusively on Audible now.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
