| The Floating Light Bulb | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the Random House first edition published March 12, 1982 | |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Date premiered | April 27, 1981 |
| Place premiered | Vivian Beaumont Theater New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Canarsie, Brooklyn, 1945 |
The Floating Light Bulb is a 1981 Broadway play by Woody Allen. Semi-autobiographical, it focuses on a lower middle class family living in Canarsie, Brooklyn, New York City, in 1945.
Matriarch Enid Pollack, who once aspired to be a dancer in George White's Scandals , spends her days hounding neighbors with telephone business schemes in order to support the family. Her philandering husband Max is a gambler, furtively planning his escape from his marriage. Stuttering teenaged son Paul is a frail, bright, shy boy who tries to perfect magic tricks — including a floating light bulb illusion — in his bedroom.
When talent agent Jerry Wexler arrives at the house, seemingly to audition Paul, Enid seizes the opportunity for Paul to shine in the spotlight that eluded her, only to have her hopes dashed when she realizes Wexler is more interested in wooing her than signing her son as a client.
The play premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center on April 27, 1981 and ran for 62 performances and 16 previews. Directed by Ulu Grosbard, the cast included Beatrice Arthur as Enid, Danny Aiello as Max, Brian Backer as Paul, and Jack Weston as Jerry. [1] The Magic Director was Robert Aberdeen who was responsible for the title effect, the floating lightbulb, and taught all the magic to Brian Backer who won the Tony Award for his performance. [2]
In his review in The New York Times , Frank Rich called the play a "conventional, modest and at times pedestrian family drama" and "nothing to be embarrassed about" although "it could easily be mistaken for a journeyman effort by a much younger and less experienced writer." He added, "There are a few laughs, a few well-wrought characters, and, in Act II, a beautifully written scene that leads to a moving final curtain. But most of the time Light Bulb is superficial and only mildly involving. As a serious playwright, Mr. Allen is still learning his craft and finding his voice. Like so many young American plays, this one is overly beholden to the early Tennessee Williams." [3]
The Tony Award is presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. Considered the highest honor in US theatre.
| Year | Category | Nominee | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Best Actor in a Play | Jack Weston | Nominated | [4] |
| Best Featured Actor in a Play | Brian Backer | Won | [5] | |
Heywood "Woody" Allen is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing material for television in the 1950s, mainly Your Show of Shows (1950–1954) working alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, and Neil Simon. He also published several books featuring short stories and wrote humor pieces for The New Yorker. In the early 1960s, he performed as a stand-up comedian in Greenwich Village alongside Lenny Bruce, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and Joan Rivers. There he developed a monologue style and the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish. He released three comedy albums during the mid to late 1960s, earning a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album nomination for his 1964 comedy album entitled simply Woody Allen. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Allen fourth on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians, while a UK survey ranked Allen the third-greatest comedian.
Beatrice Arthur was an American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Arthur began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving worldwide recognition for her work on television beginning in the 1970s as Maude Findlay in the popular sitcoms All in the Family (1971–1972) and Maude (1972–1978) and later in the 1980s and 1990s as Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls (1985–1992).
Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was an American actor. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Front (1976), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Hide in Plain Sight (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), Léon: The Professional (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Dinner Rush (2000), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006). He played Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries The Last Don (1997).
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The Floating Light Bulb at the Internet Broadway Database
