THE STORY: Holding out indomitably against advancing age, dwindling finances and failing health, Margaret Mary Elderdice, a widow and former concert pianist, resists the attempts of her violin-playing spinster neighbor, Cara Varnum, to move in with her. While she enjoys playing duets with Cara and gossiping about the other tenants in their upper West Side apartment building, Margaret Mary values her independence above the dubious comforts that the constant presence of the priggish Cara might provide. So Cara is shocked when Margaret Mary engages Robin Bird, a rather kooky young would-be actress, as her paid, live-in companion. Relations between the three are strewn with hilarious pitfalls from the start, with additional comic complications being provided by a malaprop-prone Rumanian building superintendent and an eager young lawyer-suitor whom Robin Bird brings home for dinner. Ultimately things do fall into place, and largely so because of the spirited will of Margaret Mary, who goads the others to rise above their problems, to stake a personal claim on life, and to resist, with all their strength, the infirmities and misfortunes that flesh is heir to.
The high-spirited, warm-hearted comedy in which Katharine Hepburn starred both on Broadway and on tour. Centering on the tenuous relationship between an aging but still feisty and strong-willed widow and the spinster neighbor who tries to cultivate her friendship, the play is a skillful blending of hilarity and touching perceptions as it explores life among Manhattan’s elderly “singles."
“…an unquestioned hit.” —Variety.
“…Mr. Thompson stands up boldly for the old verities.” —The New York Times.
