"Barefoot in the Park": updated or stay in "period"

Based on some of the reactions to "The Odd Couple" being "stale"/out dated, do you think they will try to update "Barefoot in the Park" and leave it as another "period" piece?

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The show has to stay pretty much in the period it's set in for the simple reason that a telephoone installer is an integral part of the play. The princess telephone has to be repaired and the rapairman witnesses a tiff between Paul and Corie. Today we have cellphones and cordless phones that we replace ourselves.

The repairman's reactions are one of the comic highlights of the play!

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I doubt it. BAREFOOT should be played as a period piece.

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I have been attacked for my review of The Odd Couple, so why not add a bit more grist to the mill. Readers Beware…

Barefoot in The Park is more of an ensemble piece than The Odd Couple which is why I think Barefoot in The Park is a better play. Again, it's a serious comedy. The jokes are based on what all of us go through in our relationships. Those issues will never feel dated as long as the human race is allowed to freely think, which is why, and again this is my take on it, Barefoot in the Park will always hold up.

However what will not hold up, and in my opinion, will always be off-putting for audiences are references to numbers and rents that can't possibly be funny in another century. It pulls your audience out of the hard earned reality the actors, director, and writer have so diligently created for us.

You all know the moment I am typing about. You are right in the thick of things watching a scene unfold, the actors are weaving their magic, we are loving the banter, the humor is ripe and then ... [wait a minute ... what was that reference? Oh, yeah this is an old play. How much was that? Gee ...well, I guess things have changed, interesting. They were arguing about the same things... wait a minute the play is still going on, I have to focus] that is the moment I am talking about.

Barefoot in the Park is too good of a play not to make these adjustments. The Telephone guy can be the DSL guy, the rents can be increased appropriately, as well as any financial references. Unless a playwright sits down to write a period piece, I would like to think that he or she would want their play to live on in perpetuity. Why not have a note at the beginning of the play giving the Director the privilege of making certain changes in the HIGHLIGHTED areas of the play in order to keep the original intent of the writer current. A note could then appear in the program stating this.

Barefoot in the Park deserves more than just being remembered as a dated play. That is my humble opinion.

OneEros69

Updated On: 10/29/05 at 08:39 PM

I sort of agree with you.

I don't know if Corie and Paul could afford DSL as a couple just starting out though.

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What I have always found interesting about the play is that Corie, who is shown to be a very bright young woman, is never expected to work. My sense is that she has just graduated college (That would make her three years younger than Paul) and all she is expected to do while he becomes the breadwinner is to "be" in the apartment. This is never seen as an issue. If you wanted to show a time capsule of the early sixties, Corie's life as a young newlywed not expected to earn money would be a perfect example. Other than that the play was seen in its time as being very superficial, albeit successful. It is (in my opinion) kind of sad that producers feel there is an audience for it in this day and age, especially (though not necessarily strangely) on Broadway.