| The Sunshine Boys | |
|---|---|
 Window card poster, original Broadway production The Sunshine Boys starring Jack Albertson and Sam Levene | |
| Written by | Neil Simon |
| Date premiered | December 20, 1972 |
| Place premiered | USA |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
The Sunshine Boys is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
The play's protagonists are Al Lewis and Willie Clark. Lewis and Clark were once a successful vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys. During the later years of their 43-year run, animosity between the partners grew to the point where they ceased to speak with each other. Eleven years prior to the events of the play, Al retired from show business, leaving Willie struggling to keep his career afloat.
Willie, now an old man struggling with memory loss, reluctantly accepts an offer from his nephew Ben, a talent agent, to reunite with Al for a CBS special on the history of comedy. Willie and Al meet in Willie's apartment to rehearse their classic doctor and tax collector sketch. The reunion gets off to a bad start, with the two getting into heated arguments over various aspects of the performance. However, thanks to the urging of Al's daughter, the two decide to go through with the performance.
Willie and Al's dress rehearsal at CBS' studio is derailed by Al's aggressive habit of poking Willie's chest with his index finger and spitting at him every time he says a word that has a "T" in it. One of the running gags [1] in “The Sunshine Boys” involves Willie's resentment over having been constantly poked in the chest by his partner's all‐too‐emphatic forefinger in the course of their countless routines on stage. Willie cries, “I had a black and blue hole in my chest. He gave me the finger for 43 years!” As Al walks off the stage in regret, Willie has a heart attack as a result of his agitated state.
Two weeks later, Willie is recovering under the care of a nurse. Upon Ben's recommendation, he decides to move into an actors' retirement home in New Jersey. Al, concerned about Willie's well-being, makes a visit. When the two talk, it is revealed that Al will be moving into the same home as Willie.
Neil Simon was inspired by two venerable vaudeville teams. The longevity of "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by Smith and Dale who, unlike their theatrical counterparts, were inseparable lifelong friends. The undercurrent of backstage hostility between "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by the team of Gallagher and Shean, who were successful professionally but argumentative personally. [2] Other sources say this is based on Weber and Fields. [3]
Produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Alan Arkin, the original 1972 Broadway cast starred Sam Levene as Al Lewis and Jack Albertson as Willie Clark, the vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys; the play co-starred Lewis J. Stadlen as Ben, Willie Clark's nephew. [4]
When Sam Levene and Jack Albertson departed the Broadway production to star in the first U.S. National company, they were replaced by Lou Jacobi as Al Lewis on February 12, 1974, and Jack Gilford as Willie Clark on October 30, 1973. Jacobi performed the role of Al Lewis for 72 performances. Sam Levene, the original star, is credited with performing the role of Al Lewis 466 times in the original Broadway production before headlining the first U.S. national tour. [5]
Tony Award nominations went to Simon (Best Play), Albertson (Best Actor in a Play) and Arkin (Best Direction of a Play), [6] and Albertson won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance (and was nominated for a Tony as well). [7] Al Hirschfeld memorialized [8] the legendary starring performances of Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis, the original Broadway stars of The Sunshine Boys, by creating an iconic caricature for The New York Times on December 13, 1972. Titled "Don't Poke With The Finger" [9] the caricature references the finger poke running gag and Willie Clark's resentment over having been constantly and aggressively poked during the show and for 43 years by Al Lewis played by Sam Levene.
The 1972 production of The Sunshine Boys marked the beginning of Neil Simon's long association with producer Emanuel Azenberg, [10] who produced all of Simon's original Broadway plays and musicals that followed.
Clive Barnes, The New York Times chief theatre critic, reviewed the original Broadway production on December 21, 1972, stating: The Sunshine Boys is probably Mr. Simon's best play yet. It deals with a subject very dear to the playwright's heart—vaudeville. Willie Clark is an almost retired vaudeville comedian. His heart is willing, but his lines are failing. His agent is his nephew—long‐suffering and much‐loving. But even a potato‐chip commercial has not gone well, and any actor who cannot crunch potato chips has got to be on his way out.
Regarding the original Broadway stars, Barnes stated "Jack Albertson as the heart stricken comic never puts a line wrong. He is always pathetic but never enough to make you cry. Lovely. His acerbic partner, Sam Levene, is as tough as vintage chewing gum, and yet with a sort of credible lovability." [11]
Jack Albertson and Sam Levene won unanimous rave notices for their legendary starring performances in the original Broadway production of The Sunshine Boys even though before The Sunshine Boys went into rehearsal Albertson and Levene were strangers. Director Alan Arkin recalled [12] in an interview with The New York Times , "Now they work as collaboratively as did Smith and Dale, the legendary team on which “The Sunshine Boys” is partly based." Arkin said "Jack (Albertson) and Sam (Levene) would have these terrific yelling matches". "It used to scare hell out of everybody until we realized that it meant nothing. They were mock battles, completely without anger. They're consummate professionals.” Albertson interjected: "There is a “chemical” between the two". “He knows what I think; and I know what he thinks,” Albertson told The New York Times. “Sam and I have the same thing in the play. If one of us blows a line, the other covers. Frankly, I blow more lines than Sam does.” The two pros were able to cover lines as they each knew the play, not just their roles. New York Post Theatre Critic Richard Watts Jr. observed [13] "Jack Albertson and Sam Levene offer the best team acting since Gielgud and Richardson in Home".
The play was revived on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre, opening on December 8, 1997, and closing on June 28, 1998, after 230 performances. Directed by John Tillinger, the cast starred Jack Klugman as Willie Clark and Tony Randall as Al Lewis. [4] [14]
A West End production of the play, starring Danny DeVito (in his West End debut) [15] ) and Richard Griffiths, opened on May 17, 2012, and played a limited 12-week season until July 28. [16] [17]
Griffiths was later replaced by DeVito’s “Taxi” co-star, Judd Hirsch. In a 2013 review of the Hirsch/Devito cast at the Ahmanson Theatre, Myron Meisel observed: It’s been more than 40 years since The Sunshine Boys first graced Broadway (with the still unimprovable Jack Albertson and Sam Levene), nearly as long in the tooth as the "Smith and Dale" sketch “Dr. Kronkheit and His Only Living Patient” was when this show was new. Simon fashioned a new, improved update on the routine for his fictional team of Lewis & Clark (Hirsch & DeVito), and his knowledgeable ear for what was then vintage and is now antique humor allows him to bring these anachronistic stylings into a then-contemporary comic setting without compromising the integrity of their original zingy ballsiness. [18]
Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006.
Harold "Jack" Albertson was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor, which ranks him among a rare stature of 24 actors who have been awarded the "Triple Crown of Acting".
Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present).
Alan Wolf Arkin was an American actor and filmmaker. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Emmy Awards.
The Subject Was Roses is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play written by Frank D. Gilroy, who also adapted the work in 1968 for a film with the same title.
Glengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts—from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation and burglary—to sell real estate to unwitting prospective buyers. It is based on Mamet's experience having previously worked in a similar office.
Herbert David Ross was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
Richard Samuel Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of well-known films, including Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Catch-22 (1970), Portnoy's Complaint (1972), Westworld (1973), The Last of Sheila (1973), and The Sunshine Boys (1975), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Benjamin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performances in He & She (1968), opposite his wife Paula Prentiss.
Jack Gilford was an American Broadway, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Save the Tiger (1973).
Richard Thomas Griffiths was an English actor of film, television, and stage. He is known for his portrayals of Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films (2001–2010), Uncle Monty in Withnail and I (1987), and Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky (1994–1997). Over his career he received numerous accolades including a Tony Award and Olivier Award as well as a nomination for a BAFTA Award. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008.
Sam Levene was a Russian-American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and director. In a career spanning over five decades, he appeared in over 50 comedy and drama theatrical stage productions. He also acted in over 50 films across the United States and abroad.
Mabel Ida Albertson was an American actress of television, stage, radio and film who portrayed Phyllis Stephens in the TV sitcom Bewitched.
Francis Healey Albertson was an American actor who had supporting roles in films such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Psycho (1960).
Last of the Red Hot Lovers is a comedy by Neil Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1969.
Luv is a play by Murray Schisgal. The production originated on Broadway in 1964. The production was directed by Mike Nichols and featured performances from Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson.
Matthew Arkin is an American actor, acting instructor, and author.
The Sunshine Boys is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and based on the 1972 play of the same name by Neil Simon, about two legendary comics brought together for a reunion and revival of their famous act. The cast included real-life experienced vaudevillian actor George Burns as Lewis, Walter Matthau as Clark, and Richard Benjamin as Ben, with Lee Meredith, F. Murray Abraham, Rosetta LeNoire, Howard Hesseman, and Ron Rifkin in supporting roles.
Sam Locke was an American writer and director who worked in theatre, television, and film.
The Sunshine Boys is a 1996 American comedy television film directed by John Erman and based on the 1972 play of the same title by Neil Simon about two legendary comics brought together for a reunion and revival of their famous act. The film stars Woody Allen and Peter Falk as the comedy duo alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. It premiered on December 28, 1997, on Hallmark Hall of Fame on CBS.
Adam Levy is a British actor best known for his role as Peter in A.D. The Bible Continues.
