About the Show

A one-woman adaptation of Joan Didion's autobiographical memoir.

The Year of Magical Thinking is the first New York remounting of the work by Joan Didion, directed by Jonathan Silverstein, and performed by Award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant as a solo show.

Adapted from her acclaimed memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking tells the story of Didion’s journey of loss, determination, and ultimately hope, using her well-known wit to create an intimate snapshot of the strength of the human heart.

Performed in various locations throughout New York City.

Critic Reviews (4)

"The play is a report back from an emotional abyss, yet for all its intensity, it isn’t grim or overwrought. It’s rigorously self-scrutinizing, dryly self-mocking, fairly stunned — somehow both unsentimental and consumed with love."
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"The timing of this production feels appropriate... since 2020 the world has been dealt catastrophic blows of death and grief with which we are still grappling...'The Year of Magical Thinking' will be a balm for some, a quieter way to meditate on the inevitable."
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"Accomplishing an intimate rapport with her listeners, Chalfant adroitly chisels her way into our hardened, worldly, over-burdened hearts...This Chalfant achieves, with seeming ease and enough warmth to tide us over as we head back out into a harsh, less forgiving world."
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"Didion was no longer just an observer of the year of magical thinking; she had lived and thrived as a result, and this is a remarkable piece of literature."
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Trailer

Creative team