Unlike Tom Wolfes Bonfire of the Vanities, in which rich WASPs appear just a tad more cultured than cannibals, Gurneys portrayal of them is mild, but funny and unsympathetic. The grandiloquently-named Andrew Makepeace Ladd III is a king WASP: a Yale man and a senator. His correspondent over fifty years is Melissa Gardner, a wealthy and artistic woman driven toward self-destruction by alcoholism, divorce, and suicidal longings. Their romance consists of nothing but piles of mail.
Love Letters is performed at the Willow Theatre, a community theatre (Sugar Sand Park, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton) today at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and again at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost $10. Call 561-347-3948, or visit brtg.org.
Fri., Dec. 4, 8 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 5, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 6, 2 p.m., 2009