The Graduate

The basis for Mike Nichols' acclaimed 1967 film starring Dustin Hoffman -- and for successful stage productions in London and on Broadway -- this classic novel about a naive college graduate adrift in the shifting social and sexual mores of the 1960s captures with hilarity and insight the alienation of youth and the disillusionment of an era.

The Graduate

When Benjamin Braddock graduates from a small Eastern college and moves home to his parents' house, everyone wants to know what he's going to do with his life. Embittered by the emptiness of his college education and indifferent to his grim prospects -- grad school? a career in plastics? -- Benjamin falls haplessly into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the relentlessly seductive wife of his father's business partner. It's only when beautiful coed Elaine Robinson comes home to visit her parents that Benjamin, now smitten, thinks he might have found some kind of direction in his life. Unfortuately for Benjamin, Mrs. Robinson plays the role of protective mother as well as she does the one of mistress. A wondrously fierce and absurd battle of wills ensues, with love and idealism triumphing over the forces of corruption and conformity.

An American classic adapted for the stage, starring Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson and Matthew Rhys as Benjamin Braddock. A fresh-faced college grad returns home, diploma in hand, to seek an answer to that age old question: "Now what?" Lacking any clear career path, he falls prey to the original "cougar," the predatory Mrs. Robinson, wife of his father's business partner. But it's Mrs. Robinson's daughter who captures his heart.

Includes and interview with the star of The Graduate, screen legend Kathleen Turner.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:

Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson

Matthew Rhys as Benjamin Braddock

Bruce Davison as Mr. Braddock

John Getz as Mr. Robinson

Jamison Jones as Hotel Clerk and others

Devon Sorvari as Elaine Robinson

Linda Purl as Mrs. Braddock and others

Adapted for the stage by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. Directed by John Rubinstein. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.