Ashley Flotte’s Legal Blog

During a recent rendezvous in New York City, I was delighted to see an apparently probate-themed theatrical production in the heart of Broadway. Horton Foote’s Diving the Estate is currently playing at the Booth Theater at W 45^th and 7^th Street, with its official opening scheduled for November 20^th. The play is touted as a “comedy about a family that must confront its past as it prepares for its future.” Its 13-character cast portrays a widow and family in small-town Texas faced with grappling after the estate of the late family patriarch.

Variety gives the play a solid review, indicating a somewhat predictable story, old-fashioned premise and “mechanical,” “ultra-traditional” set is brought to life by very humanistic characters played by a “first-rate” cast. A New York Times review states that Dividing the Estate “earns its laughs honestly,” and “makes it clear that Mr. Foote’s authorial gaze is focused with satiric sharpness while retaining its elegiac sense of life’s transience.”

I’m unfortunately not able to chime in with my own two cents, since—although we tried—getting tickets just wasn’t in the cards for us. But I get the E for Effort for at least attempting a little probate law-related activity whilst on vacation. Plus, um, Wicked was sold out.

Postscript: My husband did a phenomenal job in the New York Marathon, coming in at 4 hours 18 minutes! BIG congrats go to him; way to go!!