In her new, improved version of "Isn't It Romantic," Wendy Wasserstein has added a sweet humanity to her comic cautionary tale about a young woman's ascent to adulthood. When the play was first presented two years ago … it overflowed with amusing lines about such protean subjects as indulgent parents, rebellious offspring and food as a substitute for love. With careful rewriting, the playwright has turned the tables on her own play…. [It] is now a nouvelle cuisine comedy….

Janie has the heart of a waif and sometimes the demeanor of a clown. Some of the character's jibes are still inner-directed, but the author has cut back on self-mockery and has even sacrificed a few of her funniest lines. She allows us to see the character as a trusting woman who wants "it all"—marriage, family, a job writing for the "large bird" on "Sesame Street," and loving parents...