20th C Blues - Pershing Square Captures the Past Present & Precariousness of Female Baby Boomer Friends

The entertaining comedy/drama "20th C Blues" is aptly named for spanning the historic events & lives of Baby Boomers' seen through the lenses of 4 female friends "born in the decade after the War."  This clever & astute 1 ACT, 4 main character play zooms in on 4 women. They bonded while in before receiving their bail bond during the 70s; at time when "everyone was getting arrested".   The linchpin in this motley crew that covers character stereotypes of this epoch is Danny (Polly Draper  of TV's"30 Something").  (The irony of Draper reprising an iconic "baby boomer" character is all but lost but for those who were 30 something in the 80's).   Playwright Susan Miller (b Amer 1944) is a 2 time Obie winner & recipient of the Blackburn Prize & Writers Guild Awards.  Miller is adroit at snappy dialogue and spanning the spectrum of seismic events that captured the nation's attention in the later half of the 20th C.  Furthermore, her characters are caught in a time capsule of pre-technology, struggling to be prescient in today's hi-tech world.  Danny is addressing a "Ted" talk about her life's work in photography which is about to receive a retrospective at the MoMA.  She explains the circuitous way in which she arrived at her career as the play begins.  The play then flashes back to 4 months prior into Danny's trendy NYC apartment replete with large windows, brick walls & paraphernalia pertinent to a photographer's vocation.  Over the course of a few hours (which feels more like decades) her 3 female friends stop by for their annual "fun" day & Danny's yearly group shot of these 3 women.  (A photographic study renown & hung at the MoMA by Sally Mann (b Amer 1951').  The 1st of the group to arrive is Gabby (the garrulous, neurotic peace maker of the group), Mac (an accomplished writer/reporter retiring as a result of downsizing) and Sil  (irascible & reluctant to grant her consent releasing her photos for the MoMA retro).  What else you need to know is Mac is black & gay, Gabby is a vet and Sil sells real estate in the city.  Danny's mother Bess makes ephemeral appearances.  Bess is in advance stages of Alzheimer.  Bess' Alzheimers is a (heavy handed) reminder that memories are what makes us who we "why erase anything?", and how the aging process is not always pretty.  Danny's son Simon makes an appearance bringing his grandmother to his mother's apartment.  He's a writer & wants to assist Mac (as in a computer) how to stay in touch via technology & media today.   There are many moving & relevant observations on aging, recent events and the significance of leaving a legacy.  The entertaining  play "20th C Blues" makes crystalline commentaries on times/past & present from these women.  It's a well crafted play,  but the credibility of it feeling like real life is very precarious.