'An American Daughter' Off-Broadway review — 30 years later, women in politics still can't have it all

Read our review of An American Daughter off Broadway, a rare revival of Wendy Wasserstein's 1997 political drama presented by La Femme Theatre Productions.

Summary

• An American Daughter follows a prominent female doctor whose U.S. Surgeon General nomination is threatened by a frenzy of negative press
• Wendy Wasserstein's 1997 play explores the evergreen double standards that hinder women in politics
• The current revival does not make Wasserstein's political commentary as sharp as it can be but features a standout performance by Montego Glover
• The play is recommended for fans of feminist and women-centered media; political dramas; and fans of Wasserstein's other plays

As failed presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris would share a kinship with 40something Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes, a failed U.S. Surgeon General nominee in the late Wendy Wasserstein’s 1997 political dramedy An American Daughter. Set in Lyssa’s Washington, D.C. living room in the 1990s, Wasserstein's evergreen story tackles the double standards besieging women in politics, divides within liberalism, and trend-over-substance media. Still, La Femme Theatre Productions’ revival, which weaves in a previously unpublished Act 2, lands a few punches away from meeting the 21st century.

Lyssa is repeatedly caught off guard by media gaffes that compromise her advocacy for women’s health, and thus her nomination. Firstly, her family friend Morrow (a caustic Ryan Spahn), a gay writer and anti-choice activist, amplifies her husband’s offhand comment about a neglected jury notice in front of journalist Timber Tucker (Chris Ghaffari, a professional provocateur). Secondly, Lyssa casually describes her late mother as an “ordinary Indiana housewife,” leading to headlines crucifying her as an elitist “soccer mom’s antichrist.” Lyssa’s situation recalls the reactionary offense to a cherry-picked 1992 soundbite of Hillary Clinton saying, “I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas.”

Lyssa’s reckoning with public life happens in conjunction with her destabilizing marriage to the professor Walter (Robert Sean Leonard), whom she catches kissing his 20something student Quincy Quince (Carmen Zilles). Meanwhile, her oncologist friend Judith (Montego Glover) faces her own fertility struggles and baggage that no ceremonial throwing of muffin crumbs at the Tashlich, a Jewish cleansing of regrets, could absolve. Whether Judith is fending off microaggressions for her Black Jewish identity or heartbreak over wasted years playing a “good girl,” Glover’s unrelenting performance undergirds the flaws in the women’s-liberation ideal of “having it all.”

However, Lichty seems lost in her attempt to find Lyssa’s fire. Whereas Kate Nelligan, who originated the role on Broadway in 1997, balanced out Lyssa’s teeth-clenching with frothing candor, Lichty soft-pedals and deadpans, which mutes her soul-searching.

In Lyssa’s living-room ecosystem, Wasserstein toys with a political coexistence, not without warts, that might seem unattainable in 2026. Among Lyssa's visitors is her father, Alan (Dakin Matthews), a Republican senator who defends his “bleeding heart” daughter when her liberal cohort won’t. Whenever Timber hurls the senator discomforting questions, Matthew flicks on the showmanship and avoids scrutiny, thanks in no small part to his race and political power. Morrow tips more into a caricature of an entitled white man, but Spahn's performance also suggests embittered self-preservation.

Conversely, Quincy, a third-wave feminist author who grinds Lyssa's and Judith’s gears, amplifies the dated parts of Wasserstein's script. It’s not unobjectionable for Wasserstein to critique the younger generation, but Zilles’s rendition of a vain ladder-climber using Lyssa’s media circus to elevate her agenda makes Quincy one-note and deflates the generational divide between her and Lyssa. Furthermore, Leonard and Zilles fail to convey a persuasive history for their characters, and their kiss hits like a soap opera rather than a collision of ideological attraction and interpersonal conflict. One gets the impression that Quincy has been a puzzle in previous iterations of An American Daughter, too.

It’s last-minute when Lichty, in stuffy Hillary Clinton-esque couture (costume consultation is by Risa Ando), confidently delivers Lyssa's final epiphany and sheds her performative headband, literal and proverbial. And yet, in An American Daughter's patience-testing 2 hours and 30 minutes, the powder keg never explodes.

An American Daughter summary

Lyssa Dent Hughes — a D.C. doctor, descendant of President Ulysses S. Grant, and U.S. Surgeon General nominee — seems to have it all. She doesn’t have anything to hide when she allows a reporter to televise her family and friends’ living-room dialogue. But on camera, her well-intentioned husband Walter and conservative friend Morrow bring unwanted attention to Lyssa’s neglect of a jury summons. On top of that, an offhand comment about her late housewife mother’s icebox cakes offends the moms of America, causing a media storm that threatens Lyssa's nomination.

An American Daughter premiered on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater in 1997, and it was made into a 2000 Lifetime television film starring Christine Lahti. The 2026 Off-Broadway revival, staged by La Femme Theatre Productions, uses a script that La Femme founder and executive director Jean Lichty, script supervisor Will DeVary, and director Sarna Lapine compiled from multiple iterations of Wasserstein’s play.

What to expect at An American Daughter

When Wasserstein wrote An American Daughter, she had in mind Hillary Clinton as well as two failed U.S. Attorney General nominees, Zoe Baird and Judge Kimba Wood, scrutinized for hiring undocumented immigrants as nannies. This context informs Quincy’s comment, “Don't you think that the entire Nannygate incident [referring to Zoe Baird] was an outgrowth of the 70s' having-it-all mythology?”

In scenic designer Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams’ crisp living room, a melancholic portrait of former first lady Julia Grant stares into the living room as a symbol of women pining for more beyond their assigned gender norms. Outside the window panes, Alan C. Edwards's lighting conveys the passage of time with a fluid grace.

This revival pieces together multiple versions of Wasserstein's script, including an estate-approved, previously unpublished Act 2. These changes flow naturally on stage, such as a Spice Girls reference that prefaces the final scene between Lyssa and Judith that was used in a 1998 Chicago staging. The play’s new ending aims for an optimistic ambivalence while not quite dropping its hamfisted “rise and continue” message. Judith’s repeated motto, “I will unfortunately always keep my eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole,” hits that note much more potently.

What audiences are saying about An American Daughter

On the review aggregator Show-Score, An American Daughter has a 64% audience approval score based on 112 reviews from theatregoers, as of publication.

• “This dramedy explores how politics and the media turn women's choices into public battlegrounds. Although the show would benefit from some trimming, its timely story, solid performances, & genuinely charming stagecraft make it well worth your time.” - Show-Score user Elisa 9119
• Show-Score user Stephen 18 described the revival as “uneven.”
• “I think it’s interesting to watch this play as written in the [1990s] context it came out. Some of the jokes did not really land. The air seemed awkward around the audience.” - My +1 at the show

Read more audience reviews of An American Daughter on Show-Score.

Who should see An American Daughter

• Wendy Wasserstein enthusiasts will be curious about this revival and its transformed ending. With few Wasserstein revivals in New York City, it’s nice to have one.
• Fans of Bess Wohl’s 2026 Tony Award-winning Liberation will appreciate Wasserstein’s pieces, which similarly explore different kinds of women navigating their sociopolitical confines.
• Director Sarna Lapine would draw those who enjoyed her Sunday in the Park With George revival (her previous collaboration with Robert Sean Leonard) or the Jean Smart-led Call Me Izzy on Broadway.
• Fans of Montego Glover, Tony-nominated for Memphis and with credits on Les Misérables, Hamilton, and Into the Woods, should see her make a meal out of Judith and her attempt to escape from the boxes that stymie her.
• Fans of theatre mainstay Mary Beth Peil will delight in her character, Chubby, Lyssa’s socialite stepmother who's both sympathetic and a bit backhanded.

Learn more about An American Daughter off Broadway

Although equipped with fertile material, Lapine falls short of sharpening the ideological and interpersonal tensions of An American Daughter. Wasserstein's witty characters and their verbal sparring make for plum acting vehicles, but a miscast lead and untapped potential blunt the play's political commentary.

Learn more and get An American Daughter tickets on New York Theatre Guide. An American Daughter is at the Pershing Square Signature Center through September 20.

Photo credit: An American Daughter off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)