A Thousand Clowns is a 1965 American comedy-drama film directed by Fred Coe and starring Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, and Barry Gordon. An adaptation of a 1962 play by Herb Gardner, it tells the story of an eccentric comedy writer who is forced to conform to society to retain legal custody of his nephew.
Matthew Broderick is an American actor. His roles include the Golden Globe–nominated portrayal of the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), the voice of adult Simba in Disney's The Lion King (1994), and Leo Bloom in both the Broadway musical The Producers and its 2005 film adaptation. Other films he has starring credits in include WarGames (1983), Glory (1989), The Freshman (1990), The Cable Guy (1996), Godzilla (1998), Election (1999), Inspector Gadget (1999), You Can Count on Me (2000), and The Last Shot (2004). Broderick also directed himself in Infinity (1996) and provided voice work in Good Boy! (2003), Bee Movie (2007), and The Tale of Despereaux (2008).
Chapter Two is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The play premiered on Broadway in 1977, where it ran for 857 performances.
Penelope Ann Miller, sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the original run of Biloxi Blues (1985–1986), later appearing in the 1988 film adaptation of the same name. After playing small roles in the comedies Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Big Top Pee-wee (1988), and receiving a Tony Award nomination for her leading role in the Broadway revival of Our Town (1988–1989), Miller came to prominence with a succession of major parts in films such as The Freshman, Awakenings, Kindergarten Cop, Other People's Money (1991), Chaplin (1992), The Shadow (1994), and The Relic (1997). For her portrayal of exotic dancer Gail in Carlito's Way (1993), she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag queen, and torch singer who lives in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The four-hour play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.
Broadway Bound is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. It is the last chapter in his Eugene trilogy, following Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues.
Barry Miller is an American actor. He won Broadway's 1985 Tony Award as Best Actor for his performance in Biloxi Blues.
Brighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The play is a coming-of-age comedy focused on the main character of Eugene Morris Jerome, a Jewish teenager from a Polish immigrant family. It is set in September 1937 in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York during The Great Depression. According to Simon, the play tells its story "through the eyes of a 15-year-old boy who is writing his memoirs—which is what I did when I was 15".
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality leading roles in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946.
Gene Saks was an American director and actor. An inductee of the American Theater Hall of Fame, his acting career began with a Broadway debut in 1949. As a director, he was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning three for his direction of I Love My Wife, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. He also directed a number of films during his career. He was married to Bea Arthur from 1950 until 1978, and subsequently to Keren Saks from 1980 to his death in 2015.
Emanuel "Manny" Azenberg is an American theatre producer and general manager whose professional relationship with playwright Neil Simon spans thirty-three years.
The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year."
The Eugene Trilogy refers to three plays written by Neil Simon, the "quasi-autobiographical trilogy" Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. Shows at this theater are produced by Center Theatre Group.
Matt Mulhern is an American actor and historian who has starred in such films as One Crazy Summer and Biloxi Blues, and such television series such as Major Dad, JAG, and Rescue Me.
Biloxi Blues is a 1988 American military comedy drama film directed by Mike Nichols, written by Neil Simon, and starring Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken.
William Thomas Sadler is an American stage, film, and television actor. His television and motion picture roles have included Chesty Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, Senator Vernon Trent in Hard to Kill, Death in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and Bill & Ted Face the Music, and Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2. He played Matthew Ellis in Iron Man 3, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and WHIH Newsfront. He also recurs as John McGarrett in the 2010 remake of the 1968 television series Hawaii Five-O, and the Boston boxing promoter and suspected drug dealer Gino Fish in the Jesse Stone television film series, opposite Tom Selleck. He also played Don in the 1992 movie Trespass.
The Philanthropist is a play by Christopher Hampton, written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope. After opening at the Royal Court Theatre, London in August 1970, the piece, directed by Robert Kidd, transferred to the May Fair Theatre in the West End and ran there for over three years, subsequently going on a regional tour in 1974. In the meantime, the play, directed once again by Kidd, premiered on Broadway in March 1971, running till May of the same year. Kidd had previously collaborated with Hampton on When Did You Last See Your Mother? (1964), which had also been staged at the Royal Court Theatre.
Broadway Bound is a 1992 American made-for-television comedy film directed by Paul Bogart, written by Neil Simon, and starring Corey Parker and Jonathan Silverman. Simon adapted his semi-autobiographical 1986 play Broadway Bound, the third chapter in what is known as the Eugene trilogy, the first being Brighton Beach Memoirs and the second being Biloxi Blues. Silverman, who played Eugene Jerome in the original stage version of Broadway Bound and in the film adaptation of Brighton Beach Memoirs, plays Eugene's older brother Stanley in the film. Parker played Pvt. Arnold Epstein in the film adaptation of Biloxi Blues. In a 1992 interview, Simon explained that Broadway Bound was not adapted as a theatrical film like the previous two works in the trilogy for the reason that it "was too expensive for the big screen, because it required extensive outdoor period sets of New York City."
The 69th Annual Tony Awards were held on June 7, 2015, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2014–15 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and broadcast live by CBS. Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming hosted the ceremony.
