Rose's Dilemma

Last updated

Rose's Dilemma is the final play written by Neil Simon. [1] It ran in Los Angeles and off-Broadway in 2003.

Contents

Productions

The play was produced off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center's Stage 1. It ran from November 20, 2003 until February 1, 2004. Directed by Lynn Meadow, it starred John Cullum, Patricia Hodges, David Aaron Baker, and Geneva Carr. [2] [3] [4]

Mary Tyler Moore, who started in previews, left the show on December 3, prior to opening. [4] [5] Variety reported that "(Mary Tyler) Moore was in previews with the production when, according to reports, Simon sent her a letter admonishing her to learn her lines. She exited the play forthwith." [6]

Under the title Rose and Walsh, the play premiered earlier in 2003 in Los Angeles, California at the Geffen Playhouse. Directed by David Esbjornson, it starred Len Cariou as Walsh, Jane Alexander as Rose, Marin Hinkle as Arlene, and David Aaron Baker as Clancy. The Variety reviewer, as quoted in Playbill, wrote: "there's a big audience for a work like this, especially when it's in the hands of these four fine actors." [7] [8]

The play was produced in 2006 in Italy, under the title Fantasma d'Amore: it was also the European premier, directed by Pino Strabioli and starring Anna Mazzamauro as Rose and Michele Gammino as Walsh. [9]

Plot

Author Rose Steiner, suffering from writer's block, needs money and is determined to write another "blockbuster." Rose fantasizes her dead lover, Walsh McLaren, a famous and successful writer. At Walsh's suggestion, Rose decides to complete his unfinished novel, asking a young writer living nearby to help. Rose's assistant, and daughter, Arlene, is trying to be helpful and becomes romantically involved with the young writer, Gavin Clancy.

Reception

The Variety reviewer wrote: "Neil Simon's new play is a strained, sentimental comedy-drama that will hardly burnish the reputation of the veteran playwright, or of Manhattan Theater Club, where it is clunking across the stage in a stiff production from artistic director Lynne Meadow." [6]

Elyse Sommer of CurtainUp wrote: "The fantasy element and the use of celebrity characters may seem like an established writer's brave venture into new territory. Alas, this turns out to be a false promise since nothing in Rose's Dilemma comes off as fresh and new... In Rose's Dilemma there's no danger of missing anything since the laughs come at greater intervals than ever before... Typical for Manhattan Theatre Club, this is a handsomely staged production, well-directed by MTC's artistic director Lynne Meadow. Thomas Lynch's seaside home is airy and furnished in the best of taste, with the ocean view subtly lit by Pat Collins. The costumes by William Ivey Long are suitable." [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Tune</span> American actor

Thomas James Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<i>Proposals</i> (play) Play

Proposals is a comedy-drama by Neil Simon, his 30th play. After running in Los Angeles and the Kennedy Center in 1997, the play opened on Broadway in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattan Theatre Club</span> Theatre company in New York City

Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country's most acclaimed theatre organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Maxwell</span> American actress

Janice Elaine Maxwell was an American stage and television actress. She was a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner. In a career spanning over thirty years, Maxwell was one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed stage actresses of her time.

The American Clock is a play by Arthur Miller. The play is about 1930s America during The Great Depression. It is based in part on Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression.

<i>45 Seconds from Broadway</i>

45 Seconds from Broadway is a comedy by Neil Simon, his thirty-third. The play premiered on Broadway in 2001.

Dinner with Friends is a play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in 1999. The play received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lynne Meadow is an American theatre producer, director and a teacher. She has been the artistic director of the Manhattan Theatre Club since 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Smith-Cameron</span> American actress (born 1957)

Jean Isabel Smith, credited professionally as J. Smith-Cameron, is an American actress. She spent a majority of her career in theatre but began transitioning to film and television later in life. She is known for her supporting roles as Janet Talbot on the television series Rectify and Gerri Kellman on Succession. For the latter, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2022.

Veanne Cox is an Emmy and Tony-nominated American stage and screen actress and former ballet dancer.

John Rando is an American stage director who won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Urinetown the Musical in 2002. He received his 2nd nomination in the same category in 2015 for the 2014 Broadway revival of On the Town.

Douglas Hughes is an American theatre director.

Exactly Like You is a 1999 musical with a score by composer Cy Coleman and a book by A. E. Hotchner.

Ruined (2008) is an American play by Lynn Nottage. The play premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play explores the plight of women during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Christopher Ashley is an American stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse.

Collected Stories is a play by Donald Margulies which premiered at South Coast Repertory in 1996, and was presented on Broadway in 2010. The play was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1997.

Biography is a 1932 play by S.N. Behrman.

Lauren Ward is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End musicals and plays. Ward originated the role of Miss Honey in the original Stratford-Upon-Avon, West End, and Broadway productions of the musical Matilda, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.

Heidi Ettinger, also known by her former married name Heidi Landesman, is an American theatre producer and set designer. She studied at Occidental College and the Yale School of Drama. She was the first woman to win a Tony Award for set design, which she won for the musical Big River. She has also won the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle awards and an Obie Award.

The Children is a play written by Lucy Kirkwood which premiered in London in 2016 and then on Broadway in 2017.

References

  1. ↑ Kocher, Chris (September 5, 2018). "Cider Mill cast stages Neil Simon's final play 'Rose's Dilemma' in Endicott". Press & Sun-Bulletin. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  2. ↑ Simon, Neil. "Contents, Rose's Dilemma at Manhattan Theatre Club" Rose's Dilemma (2004) (books.google), Samuel French, Inc., ISBN   0-573-60262 X, p. 4
  3. ↑ Brantley, Ben. "Theater Review. More Ghosts Than Originally Planned" The New York Times, December 19, 2003, retrieved January 28, 2017
  4. 1 2 Jones, Kenneth. "Dust Settled, Neil Simon's Rose's Dilemma Opens Dec. 18 Off-Broadway" playbill.com, December 18, 2003
  5. ↑ Gerard, Jeremy. "Comedy of Manners" New York Magazine, December 22, 2003
  6. 1 2 Isherwood, Charles. "Off-Broadway. Rose's Dilemma" Variety, December 18, 2003 [ dead link ]
  7. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. Rose's Dilemma, Neil Simon's 33rd Play, Gets Manhattan Theatre Club Berth, Nov. 20" Archived 2012-09-26 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, June 10, 2003
  8. ↑ Gallo, Phil. "Review: 'Rose and Walsh' " Variety, February 6, 2003
  9. ↑ "Non chiamatela la signorina Silvani" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  10. ↑ Sommer, Elyse. "A CurtainUp Review. Rose's Dilemma" Curtain Up, December 20, 2003
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.