Synopses & Reviews
"If Broadway ever erects a monument to a patron saint of laughter, Neil Simon will have to be it."
Neil Simon This first volume of The Collected Plays of Neil Simon contains the triumphs that put Neil Simon's unique brand of comic genius on the American stage, and made him the most successful playwright of his generation. His mixture of verbal wit and beautifully crafted farce, ethnic humor and insight into universal foible, and above all compassion and understanding, make even his sharpest barbs touch the heart as well as the funny bone. These seven plays, beginning with his unforgettable debut, Come Blow Your Horn, make us laugh uproariously even as we indelibly identify with the objects of our laughter.
Synopsis
This first volume of The Collected Plays of Neil Simon contains the triumphs that put his unique brand of comic genius on the American stage, and made him the most successful playwright of his generation. This volume includes:
- Come Blow Your Horn
- Barefoot in the Park
- The Odd Couple
- Plaza Suite
- The Star-Spangled Girl
- Promises, Promises
- Last of the Red Hot Lover
- And an Introduction by the author: "Portrait of the Writer as a Schizophrenic"
Neil Simon's mixture of verbal wit and beautifully crafted farce, ethnic humor and insight into universal foible, and above all compassion and understanding, make even his sharpest barbs touch the heart as well as the funny bone. These seven plays, beginning with his unforgettable debut, Come Blow Your Horn, make us laugh uproariously even as we indelibly identify with the objects of our laughter.
About the Author
Since 1960, a Broadway season without a Neil Simon comedy or musical has been a rare one. His first play was
Come Blow Your Horn, followed by the musical
Little Me. During the 1966-67 season,
Barefoot in the Park,
The Odd Couple,
Sweet Charity, and
The Star-Spangled Girl were all running simultaneously; in the 1970-71 season, Broadway theatergoers had their choice of
Plaza Suite,
Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and
Promises, Promises. Next came
The Gingerbread Lady,
The Prisoner of Second Avenue,
The Sunshine Boys,
The Good Doctor,
God's Favorite,
California Suite,
Chapter Two, the musical
They're Playing Our Song,
I Ought to Be in Pictures,
Brighton Beach Memoirs (which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play of 1983),
Biloxi Blues (which won the Tony Award for Best Play of 1985), and the female version of
The Odd Couple.
Mr. Simon began his writing career in television, writing The Phil Silvers Show and Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. He has also written the screen adaptations of Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, California Suite, Chapter Two, and I Ought to Be in Pictures. His original screenplays include The Out-of-Towners, The Hearbreak Kid, Murder by Death, The Goodbye Girl, The Cheap Detective, Seems Like Old Times, Only When I Laugh, Max Dugan Returns, and The Slugger's Wife. He received the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for Lost in Yonkers.
The author lives in California and New York. He is married to Diane Lander and has three daughters, Ellen, Nancy, and Bryn.
Table of Contents
v. 1. Come blow your horn. Barefoot in the park. The odd couple. The star-spangled girl. Promises, promises. Plaza suite. Last of the red hot lovers -- v. 2. Little me. The gingerbread lady. The prisoner of Second Avenue. The sunshine boys. The good doctor. God's favorite. California suite. Chapter two.