Poisoned Pens

NORA EPHRON'S IMAGINARY FRIENDS

Imaginary Friends is a play by the ironic, sharp-tongued Nora Ephron, in which Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones play Lillian Heilman and Mary McCarthy, respectively, two literary giants who barely knew each other but ended up locked in a bitter feud. The play features music by Marvin Hamlisch, with lyrics by Craig Cornelia, and W is directed by Jack O'Brien. Ms. Ephron decid1 ed to write a play about Heilman and McCarthy because they were two formidable personalities whose careers paralleled each other and dramatized different levels of success and celebrity. As she went over their stories, Ephron kept coming back to the night when McCarthy called Heilman a liar on The Dick Cavett Show, after which Heilman sued McCarthy for $2.25 million. The lawsuit became a cause celebre of the literary world in the 1980s. Heilman died in 1984, just before the suit came to trial. McCarthy died five years later. They'd never been able to confront each other in real life, Ephron says, "and I visualized them bumping into each other in a ladies' room in hell." The tension between the two women gives the play its emotional clout, as they bicker about everything from the HUAC trials to Jane Fonda in the movie Julia. But the focus of their conversation always returns to that lawsuit, and whether or not McCarthy's attack on Heilman would be protected by the First Amendment. We are left to ponder the boundary between opinion and fact, and whether you believe the truth is more important than telling a good story. Indeed, there is a great deal to think about in this wonderfully entertaining play.

PATRICIA BOSWORTH

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