This month is the 75th anniversary of Tennessee Williams’ great, groundbreaking play, “The Glass Menagerie.” It premiered in Chicago in December 1944 and instantly made 33-year-old Williams famous. “It became this vivid overnight success,” says WNYC Culture Editor Jennifer Vanasco, “and turned him into a household name!”
Vanasco offers a recap of the play for those who haven’t seen or read it since high school, and she explains why it’s still as relevant as ever: “You can keep mining it for experiences over and over. These characters are still the archetypes that we live with. And so many of us also have, of course, dysfunctional families and we know what it’s like to want to escape our situation and we know what it’s like to really yearn for something more.”
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