Playwright Wendy Wasserstein encapsulates a quarter century of the American women’s movement as she recounts the Life and Loves of Heidi Holland in her Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy The Heidi Chronicles, now being given an absorbing, illuminating 37th-anniversary revival at the Group Rep Theatre.

We first meet a 40ish Heidi (Amy Earhart) in 1989 as the art historian lectures on the topic of Women Painters, upon which Wasserstein flashes us back twenty-four years to the high school dance where she meets and is instantly smitten by the handsome and charming Peter Patrone (Hudson Long), one of two men with whom Heidi will find herself inextricably involved over the next two and a half decades.

The other man in Heidi’s life is the oh so sexy Scoop Rosenbaum (Alex Scyocurka), whose acquaintance Heidi makes a few years later at a dance attended by supporters of Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign, and if Peter can be called Heidi’s soulmate (accent on soul), the urges Scoop inspires in our feminist hero are of a considerably more carnal bent, and about to be consummated before the night is over.

Heidi’s longtime bestie Susan Johnston (Amy Shaughnessy) completes her immediate circle of friends as we follow the foursome into the Second Wave Feminist Movement of 1970s and on to the career success that awaits them as they enter their 30s.

All of this adds up to an exhilarating roller-coaster ride of emotions with stops at Scoop’s wedding, a life-altering announcement from Peter, and Heidi’s own very public midlife meltdown as what started out on Broadway as a contemporary look at the last twenty-five years of American women’s lives now becomes a fascinating time capsule of how things were back before many if not most of the current the Group Rep cast were born.

Boomers like this reviewer will savor The Heidi Chronicles as a trip down memory lane, Millennials and Gen Z-ers will appreciate it as a 20th-century history lesson, and whatever your age, Wasserstein’s chef-d’oeuvre is simply a darned good play, filled with characters we care about and in whose lives we become invested.

 It’s also a reminder, following the misfire that was the company’s recent Network, that the Group Rep at its best is more than capable of holding its own against L.A.’s finest membership theaters.

Not only does director Brent Beerman “get” Wasserstein’s characters, he knows how to keep things moving swiftly along with minimal scene change interruptions, adding up to a production that feels a good deal shorter than its two-and-a-half-hour running time.

 A stunning Earhart takes Heidi on a journey from wide-eyed innocence though romantic ups and downs to an adulthood that presents its own particular challenges, and she delivers an Act Two monolog that is equal parts mesmerizing and moving.

Long not only makes for as charming and endearing a GBF as any Heidi could wish for, he’s got a second act scene with Earhart that will tear your heart out; Scyocurka (a cross between Billy Crudup and Jason Robards in their younger days) exudes equal parts sex appeal and acting chops as Scoop; and Shaughnessy couldn’t be more terrific as Heidi’s opposites-attract best friend and confidante.

Kathi Chaplar, Amy Goldring, Michelle McGregor, and Maxwell Oliver provide expert support in a dazzling array of colorful featured and cameo turns (and almost as many of Krys Fehervari’s character-and-decade-defining wigs).

Chaplar’s modular set features dozens of picture frames ready to be filled in with snapshots of Heidi’s life, Robbie Myles’ lighting is first-rate, John Harvey’s sound design includes year-establishing song selections from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, Beerman’s props are topnotch, and aside from a business suit at least two sizes too large for Scyocurka, Shon LeBlanc’s costumes are spot-on recreations of years gone by.

The Heidi Chronicles is produced for the Group Rep by Melissa Strauss. Molly Wolflick is assistant director. Sonia Carillo and Macey McHargue are stage crew. Nora Feldman is publicist.

Times may have changed since Wendy Wasserstein wrote The Heidi Chronicles, but her best-known play continues to serve as a reminder of both what’s been accomplished and of how much remains to be achieved.

L.A. theatergoers can rejoice that the Group Rep more than does it the justice it deserves.

The Group Rep Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood.
www.thegrouprep.com

–Steven Stanley
August 1, 2025
Photos: Doug Engalla

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Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, The Group Rep, Wendy Wasserstein