Diva/Mensch pair for Nov 4, 2026
The 1995 Tony for Best Revival went to The Heiress. That play is both a diva and a mensch. The 1947 play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz was an adaptation of the Henry James novella Washington Square.
SPOILER ALERT! I encourage you to watch the 1949 movie if you haven't, especially if you have no familiarity with the story. It's one of the greatest Hollywood movies ever, it's one of those movies that gets better every time I see it.
The central character is the plain, awkward daughter of a wealthy 19th century New York doctor. She's courted by a handsome young man, Morris Townsend, who abandons her the night of their elopement.
The book ends with the central character, Catherine Sloper, seeing Morris years later. They have a sort of sadder-but-wiser interaction and she's left with a wistful smile, wondering what her life might have been. That menschy ending is fine for a novella but when it comes to the theatre, as Margo says in All About Eve, "It won't play."
The Goetzes changed the ending so Catherine takes her revenge on Morris. It's DEVASTATING, unimaginably thrilling, a huge improvement on the original. Catherine, for just a moment, finds her inner diva and she spits actual tacks.
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