Swingonbroadway.com

Amazon.com: Highlighted by Swoosie Kurtz's Tony Award-winning performance, this 1982 recording of Fifth of July preserves what is likely to remain the definitive production of Lanford Wilson's highly acclaimed play. Originally presented on PBS's American Playhouse, the videotaped performance retains director Marshall W. Mason's original 1978 staging for New York's legendary Circle Repertory Company, while allowing TV director Kirk Browning to "open up" the play with outdoor exteriors of Wilson's Lebanon, Missouri, setting in the summer of 1977. It's there that Kenneth (Richard Thomas), a disabled Vietnam veteran, is reunited with several friends from their days as student activists, reflecting on their past, present, and future with varying degrees of trepidation, hope, and wisdom. Groundbreaking in its casual portrayal of an openly gay couple (Jeff Daniels is superb as Kenneth's supportive lover), Fifth of July clearly influenced The Big Chill, offering a formidable acting showcase to a young cast (including Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon) whose careers were boosted by this one-of-a-kind ensemble experience. --Jeff Shannon