Meryl Streep, Academy Award winning star of such films as Sophie's Choice and Silkwood will not be coming to Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter. Streep had been sought as the lead in the new play by the author of The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig, but she apparently balked about uprooting her family for a long stay in New York.

Had Streep taken the role, it would have been a rare stage appearance for an actress who got her start in theatre. She won a Theatre World Award in 1975 for her work Off-Broadway in 27 Wagons Full Of Cotton and appeared in Elizabeth Swados' Alice In Concert at New York's Public Theatre in 1980-81. In 1977 she appeared on Broadway in Happy End. Press representative Philip Rinaldi told Playbill On-Line that Streep "very much wanted to do the show, but she has four kids, three of them young, and the logistics of moving her family to New York were just too much. Lincoln Center runs require a minimum of ten weeks."

No replacement actress has been cast for the role of Lyssa Dent Hughes, nor have any other cast members been announced as of this time. The play is still scheduled to begin previews March 20, 1997 and to open April 13.