Same Time, Next Year (play)

Last updated
Same Time, Next Year
Written by Bernard Slade
CharactersDoris, George
Date premieredMarch 13, 1975
Place premiered Brooks Atkinson Theatre
New York City
Original languageEnglish
SubjectAn extramarital affair conducted one day each year for 24 years.
Genre Romantic comedy
SettingA California seaside cottage
One day in February 1951, 1956, 1961, 1965, 1970, and 1975.

Same Time, Next Year is a 1975 romantic comedy play by Bernard Slade. The plot focuses on two people, married to others, who meet for a romantic tryst once a year for two dozen years.

Contents

Plot

New Jersey accountant George Peters and Oakland housewife Doris meet at a Northern California inn in February 1951. They have an affair, and agree to meet once a year, despite the fact both are married to others and have six children between them.

Over the course of the next 24 years, they develop an emotional intimacy deeper than what one would expect to find between two people meeting for a clandestine relationship just once a year. During the time they spend with each other, they discuss the births, deaths, and marital problems each is experiencing at home, while they adapt themselves to the social changes affecting their lives.

Productions

The Broadway production opened on March 14, 1975, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre with Ellen Burstyn as Doris and Charles Grodin as George and direction by Gene Saks. It transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on May 16, 1978 and remained there until it closed on September 3 the same year. It played a total of 1,453 performances during its run. [1]

Burstyn and Grodin both gave their last performances on October 18, 1975. They were succeeded by Joyce Van Patten [2] and Conrad Janis, [2] who lasted through Nov. 29, 1975, before headlining the show's first national tour, which lasted from December 2, 1975 through May 8, 1976. Next up were Loretta Swit [3] and Ted Bessell, [3] who began their run on December 2, 1975. While Swit's last performance was on June 19, 1976, Bessell continued with the play until March 6, 1977. His next leading lady was Sandy Dennis, [4] who began her run on June 21, 1976 and lasted until May 29, 1977. By the time Dennis' run was complete, she was acting opposite Don Murray, [5] who joined the play on March 8, 1977, and lasted until January 1, 1978. Following Dennis was Hope Lange, [5] whose run spanned May 31 to October 22, 1977. After Lange came Betsy Palmer, [6] who played Doris from October 24, 1977 until the September 3, 1978 closing date. In addition to Murray, Palmer acted opposite Monte Markham [6] from January 3 to July 6, 1978, and Charles Kimbrough [7] from July 7 to September 3, 1978.

A second national tour, spanning August 3, 1976 through January 28, 1978, and including a six-month engagement in Chicago, starred Barbara Rush and Tom Troupe. A Los Angeles production from April 12, 1977 to July 2, 1977 was first headlined by Carol Burnett and Dick Van Dyke, then Diahann Carroll and Cleavon Little. Finally, a bus and truck tour from January 13, 1978 to April 22, 1978 starred Kathryn Crosby and Tony Russel.

The original London production opened in 1976, starring Michael Crawford and Frances Cuka at the Prince of Wales Theatre. [8]

Reception

The New York Times critic Clive Barnes wrote: "Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Get tickets for Same Time, Next Year... It is the funniest comedy about love and adultery to come Broadway's way in years." [9]

Author Bernard Slade was surprised by the play's international popularity. "I felt I was writing a fantasy. Then I started to get letters from people that had had this sort of relationship....The curious thing is how successful it was in other countries. I saw the French production, the Spanish production. In France--where how excited could they get about an extramarital affair?--the only thing they didn't quite understand were the psychiatric references." [10]

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
1975 Tony Award Best Play Nominated
Best Actress in a Play Ellen Burstyn Won
Best Direction of a Play Gene Saks Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play (American) Won
Outstanding Actor in a Play Charles Grodin Nominated
Outstanding Actress in a Play Ellen BurstynWon
Outstanding Director of a Play Gene SaksNominated
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Ensemble PerformanceCharles Grodin and Ellen BurstynWon

Film adaptations

A 1978 film adaptation directed by Robert Mulligan starred Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. [9] The play also served as the basis for I Will Wait for You, a 1994 film directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Clifton Ko.

It also served as a basis for the German TV drama Jedes Jahr im Juni.

Sequel

A two-act sequel, Same Time, Another Year, was first produced in 1996 at the Pasadena Playhouse, directed by the author and starring Nancy Dussault and Tom Troupe. It opens on the couple's 25th anniversary in 1976 and continues through their February anniversaries of 1980, 1981, 1986, 1992, and 1993. [11] Variety's review stated, "Through illnesses, career successes and setbacks, second marriages, second families, divorces and grandchildren, Doris and George meet each year to renew their affair, which itself seems forever changing and dynamic." As for the production Variety wrote, "a few wonderful comedic moments and some memorable one-liners, but this production is generally flat, overlong and never manages to soar as high as the original." [12]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<i>My Fair Lady</i> Stage musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe

My Fair Lady is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on the 1938 film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion, concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phonetician, so that she may pass as a lady. Despite his cynical nature and difficulty understanding women, Higgins grows attached to her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loretta Swit</span> American actress (born 1937)

Loretta Jane Swit is an American stage and television actress known for her character roles. Swit is best known for her portrayal of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H, for which she won two Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glynis Johns</span> British actress (1923–2024)

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns was a British actress. In a career spanning eight decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She received various accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. She was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and classical years of British cinema.

<i>M*A*S*H</i> (TV series) American war comedy-drama TV series (1972–1983)

M*A*S*H is an American war comedy drama television series that aired on CBS from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983. It was developed by Larry Gelbart as the first original spin-off series adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The series, which was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Burstyn</span> American actress (born 1932)

Ellen Burstyn is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". She has also received a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Kline</span> American actor

Kevin Delaney Kline is an American actor. Kline is known for his over five decade career as a leading man on stage and screen. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards, and has been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2003, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Grodin</span> American actor (1935–2021)

Charles Sidney Grodin was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies of the era. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliott Gould</span> American actor (born 1938)

Elliott Gould is an American actor. In a career spanning over seven decades, he began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s.

<i>Shirley Valentine</i> Play

Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Bessell</span> Actor, television director

Howard Weston "Ted" Bessell Jr. was an American television actor and director. He is best known for his role as Donald Hollinger, the boyfriend and eventual fiancé of Marlo Thomas's character in the TV series That Girl (1966–1971).

<i>Loot</i> (play) Literary work, play

Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Convy</span> American actor, singer, game show host and panelist (1933–1991)

Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy was an American actor, singer, game-show host, and panelist known for hosting Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wood (English actor)</span> English actor (1930–2011)

John Wood was an English actor, known for his performances in Shakespeare and his lasting association with Tom Stoppard. In 1976, he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Stoppard's Travesties. He was nominated for two other Tony Awards for his roles in Sherlock Holmes (1975) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1968). In 2007, Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Wood also appeared in WarGames, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Orlando, Shadowlands, The Madness of King George, Richard III, Sabrina, and Chocolat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince of Wales Theatre</span> West End theatre in London, England

The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre should not be confused with the former Scala Theatre in London that was known as the Prince of Wales Royal Theatre or Prince of Wales's Theatre from 1865 until its demolition in 1903.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyric Theatre, London</span> Theatre in the West End of London, England

The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was built for the producer Henry Leslie, who financed it from the profits of the light opera hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from its original venue to open the new theatre on 17 December 1888.

Bernard Slade Newbound was a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he created the sitcoms The Flying Nun and The Partridge Family. As a playwright, he wrote Same Time, Next Year, Tribute, and Romantic Comedy and their film adaptations.

Philip Rose was a Broadway theatrical producer of such productions as A Raisin in the Sun, The Owl and the Pussycat, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, Purlie, and Shenandoah. His work was particularly notable for its social insight and distinctive social conscience.

<i>Same Time, Next Year</i> (film) 1978 film by Robert Mulligan

Same Time, Next Year is a 1978 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Robert Mulligan. The screenplay by Bernard Slade is based on his 1975 play of the same title. The film stars Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn.

Morton Edgar Gottlieb was an American producer of Broadway theatre whose play Sleuth won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1971, in addition to three of his other plays that were nominated for the same award.

Same Time, Next Year may refer to:

References

  1. ↑ ' "Same Time, Next Year' Broadway" Playbill, retrieved September 18, 2017
  2. 1 2 "In and Around Town. Theater. Broadway" The New York Magazine, October 13, 1975
  3. 1 2 Barnes, Clive. "Stage: ‘Same Time,’ 1976" The New York Times, February 21, 1976
  4. ↑ "Sandy Dennis Broadway" Playbill, retrieved September 19, 2017
  5. 1 2 Corry, John. "Broadway" The New York Times, July 1, 1977
  6. 1 2 "Monte Markham as George and Betsy Palmer as Doris in 'Same Time, Next Year' " Museum of the City of New York (collections), retrieved September 18, 2017
  7. ↑ ' "Same Time, Next Year" Replacements" ibdb.com, retrieved September 18, 2017
  8. ↑ Hurren, Kenneth. "Theatre" The Spectator (archive), 1 October 1976
  9. 1 2 Same Time, Next Year tcm.com, retrieved September 18, 2017
  10. ↑ Breslauer, Jan (January 11, 2016). "Same Writer, Same Characters, but Next Up, New Adventures". L.A. Times . Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  11. ↑ Bernard Slade (1995). Same Time, Another Year: A Sequel to "Same Time, Next Year". S. French. ISBN   978-0-573-69502-5 . Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Hilsman, Hoyt (January 15, 1996). "Same Time, Another Year". Variety . Retrieved October 5, 2017.
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.