{"product_id":"9781635579628","title":"Cocktails with George and Martha","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn award-winning writer reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's \u003ci\u003eWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\u003c\/i\u003e was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn't be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the \u003ci\u003eI Love Lucy \u003c\/i\u003e1950s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's sophisticated play-and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic-surviving censorship attempts, its director's inexperience, and its stars' own tumultuous marriage-is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Now, acclaimed author Philip Gefter tells that story in full for the first time, tracing \u003ci\u003eWoolf\u003c\/i\u003e from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village's bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens across America and a permanent place in the canon of cinematic marriages. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples-one fictional, one all too real-forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Philip Gefter","offers":[{"title":"Bloomsbury |  Hardback | With dust jacket |  2024-02-13","offer_id":44652672319743,"sku":"9781635579628","price":42.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_db742452-6c81-4e3b-a370-2cd687f74203.jpg?v=1704308999","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781635579628","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}