The lesbians are coming to Broadway!
Former Sex & the City star Cynthia Nixon is slated to direct the revival of the groundbreaking 1980 lesbian play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, written by Jane Chambers.
The play follows the lives of eight women during one summer on the beaches of the fictional Bluefish Cove in Long Island. Seven lesbians rent out most of the cabins every year, but they find a stranger among them this particular summer, as a (presumably straight) woman has rented the final cabin to spend time away from her husband. Initial confusion and gradual friendship ensues, and, well, we can all guess more or less how it goes.
The original run of Last Summer at Bluefish Cove was only 80 performances Off-Broadway at the Actors Playhouse. But it was still a landmark production, the first mainstream play to revolve around lesbians and portray them as actual people rather than stereotypes or villains.
While the revival has not been cast yet, and most of the creative team either hasn’t been announced or isn’t yet in place, we do know that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are on board as producers, along with Lily Tomlin and her wife Jane Wagner, and Broadway producer Harriet Leve.
An actual timeline also hasn’t been announced, but the team is aiming to open the play sometime this year, as 2020 is the 40th anniversary of the show’s original run.