(Photo: Andrea Renault/Globe Photos)

Joan Didion went for cocktails at Sardi’s just before the opening-night performance of The Year of Magical Thinking, having watched the play so many times “it’s not countable,” and she’s ready for a bit of a break. “I’m gonna come in maybe every couple weeks and just see Vanessa [Redgrave] and catch up with the company,” she said. After that? She’s developing a movie with Scott Rudin (“We’re just beginning to talk about it”) and starting a new nonfiction book about children. But first she has to tidy up around her apartment. “Nothing has been done since we started rehearsal in January,” she said. “It’s a total mess. Every surface is full of unopened mail—not unanswered, unopened.” And of course, read the reviews, which turned out to be not so great. “I read all my reviews. Of course I do. If I didn’t, it would be like closing the windows when you know there’s something bad going on outside.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Justin Ravitz
• Table of Contents: Apr 16, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!