| re: I was thinking the same thing..... |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:34 pm EDT 08/28/18 |
| In reply to: I was thinking the same thing..... - portenopete 03:00 pm EDT 08/27/18 |
|
I think that three or four of Simon's plays may stand the test of time: Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Broadway Bound and just perhaps Biloxi Blues (though probably not that one). Otherwise, they were products of their times. Some were successful, some less so. Still, three plays surviving is rare enough. The fact that he wrote so many plays that I think do not hold up may make it seem like less of an achievement.
Watching the interview on the Times obit page made me wonder if The Odd Couple, whose third act has never really worked as well as the first two acts, might work better today with that original third act (although it works well enough with the third act we have). On the other hand, I'm not sure I trust what Simon said there as at least some of it was certainly at variance what he himself had said in earlier times (and what other people who were involved in the creation have said).
I'd be interested in reading that original Odd Couple last act and the original last act of The Gingerbread Lady. But Simon was not like Tennessee Williams in having different versions of the same play published. And it looks like they are not on the third floor at the Library for the Performing Arts (although they may be somewhere else). |
|
reply
|
|
| Previous: |
I was thinking the same thing..... - portenopete 03:00 pm EDT 08/27/18 |
| Next: |
"The tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Which is more than I could say for the liver." - seeseveryshow 04:13 pm EDT 08/28/18 |
| Thread: |
|
