By Jesse Oxfeld 12/06/11 5:34pm

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The Aristocrats: Elective Affinities Offers Tea, Truffles, a Triumphant Zoe Caldwell

The ritual surrounding a performance of Elective Affinities, the David Adjmi play in which the legendary Zoe Caldwell portrays an Upper East Side doyenne receiving you in her palatial Fifth Avenue home and discoursing on the world as she sees it, is so detailed and richly elegant as to render the word “shtick” nearly inapplicable, even gauche. And yet the delight of this experience lies in two things: seeing Ms. Caldwell work in such an intimate setting, and all the shtick. The play itself, really a short monologue, is entertaining but less fulfilling. Read More

By Aaron Gell 11/28/11 1:36pm

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Photo by Brigitte Lacombe

The Legendary Zoe Caldwell on Her New One-Woman Show, ‘Elective Affinities’

If you’re a visitor to New York, here’s a little trick to play on your hotel concierge: Slip him or her a nice tip, say $100, and let it be known that you’d be so eternally grateful for a pair of tickets to Elective Affinities, the new one-woman show starring Zoe Caldwell.

It’s not going to happen.

You’ll have no better luck if you’re a New Yorker, but the experience will be less fun, because the abject failure will be yours alone.

Elective Affinities, you see, is a very tough ticket, probably the toughest in town. Read More