Wonder of the World

Two years after Fuddy Meers floored both audiences and critics, David Lindsay-Abaire followed up his debut hit with Wonder of the World, and had critics searching for new superlatives. The New York production featured knockout performances by Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Sedaris. Ben Brantley, in the New York Times wrote "clearly, Mr. Lindsay-Abaire hasn't lost his playfully wicked eye, equally appalled and affectionate . . . his style both embraces and spoofs the All-American appetite for spiritual lift, sitcom perkiness, and slimy tabloid prurience." A firm believer in destiny-and inspired by a Marilyn Monroe movie-Cass leaves her husband and boards a bus to Niagara Falls, where she hopes to meet the unknown man she believes herself fated to end up with. Along the way toward the inevitable climax on the brink of the waterfall, she checks items off her list of "things to do in life," and takes the audience on an often moving, always hilarious journey.