Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 57

Here's the synopsis from Doollee.com:

As the play begins the protagonists are twelve-year-old sixth graders. One of them, Daniel Rocket, is firmly convinced that he can fly, a belief that causes him to be shunned and ridiculed by his schoolmatesincluding the girl he adores and for whose regard he is driven to prove himself. Oddly enough, however, it turns out that Daniel can fly, although, initially he does so in secret. When, at last, he demonstrates his talent to the others, he straps on wings (although he doesn't need them) in deference to their stubborn disbelief. From then on, Daniel soars to fame and fortune and, in the second half of the play, which takes place twenty years later, he returns home a renowned celebrity. But he has also become, in a sense, the symbol of the exceptional person, the genius who has outdistanced those around him and, in so doing, has isolated himself not only from his childhood but from the simple joys and tender emotions shared by those whom he has left behind. Torn by growing uncertainty, Daniel finds his gift waning and, in the climax of the play, he suffers a fatal crashvictim both of his distrusted uniqueness and of the unwitting need of others to bring down what they cannot understand or emulate.

What American Playhouse used to do was take plays and film them completely on the cheap. They were filmed on videotape and generally without an audience. Folks who are more knowledgeable then I can (and have) fill whole books about "medium" and "process." All I know is that the way it was done took perfectly good stageplays with amazingly talented casts and sucked every last bit of life out of them.

Some tidbits that I found while trying to learn about this show:

• The Tom Hulce Ultimate Webpage has the most frightening "the server is temporarily down" message that I have ever seen in my life.
• Valarie Mahaffey was born in Sumatra. She, Hulce and playwright Peter Parnell were all born in 1953.
• Chubb is still in the insurance game. This page is where you can go get a policy on your yacht.