| re: NY Times Obit: You're right, what an odd mistake | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 01:37 pm EDT 08/26/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 01:26 pm EDT 08/26/18 | |
| In reply to: re: NY Times Obit - Haberville 12:42 pm EDT 08/26/18 | |
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| In 1965, Neil Simon won for Best Author (Dramatic) for ''The Odd Couple,'' beating Frank Gilroy for ''The Subject Was Roses.'' And yet Simon lost to Gilroy for Best Play. Huh? Simon would go on to write many plays (''Last of the Red Hot Lovers,'' ''Prisoner of Second Avenue,'' ''The Sunshine Boys,'' ''Chapter Two,'' etc.), not to mention books to musicals (''Sweet Charity,'' ''Promises, Promises,'' etc.), but Simon wouldn't win his first Best Play Tony until 2 decades later for ''Biloxi Blues'' (1985) on his 15th Tony nomination. And he might've won earlier than that. The Tony nominators snubbed Simon's popular ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' (1983), which won Tonys for Matthew Broderick and Gene Zaks, and nominated instead Lanford Wilson's very short-lived ''Angels Fall.'' If ''Brighton'' had been up for Best Play, ''Torch Song Trilogy'' might not have won. Speaking of the Times, Simon wasn't a fan of Frank Rich's or vice versa. On a 1977 ''Theatre Talk,'' he pointed out that Rich (and John Simon) only liked one of his plays: ''Biloxi Blues.'' Simon felt that many critics gave him a fair shake, and enjoyed his work, unlike Rich. Simon said: ''My favorite idea of a perfect critic is Walter Kerr. He went out every night to the theater, saying, 'I hope I have a good time tonight.' … Frank Rich came to the theater, saying, 'I hope I don't like this play.' I know it because I can't have that many plays that were successful that he disliked.'' He added that Rich had panned his ''Lost in Yonkers,'' which Simon considered his Best Play, and which won the Tony and Pulitzer Prize. |
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| Link | 'Theatre Talk' (1997) with Neil Simon |
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