Posted: 8/26/18 at 8:50pm
Posted: 8/27/18 at 10:16am
BroadwayConcierge said: "His New York Timesobituary, written by Charles Isherwood, is up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/obituaries/neil-simon-dead.html"
Isherwood? Well, there's the reminder these things are written years in advance!
Posted: 8/27/18 at 10:20am
Sweet Charity is the first Broadway show ('86) I ever saw and the only show of Simon's I ever performed in. And it was an utter joy.
Though Brighton Beach and Biloxi Blues are slightly better plays than Broadway Bound, Kate's monologue about dancing with George Raft is probably the most beautiful piece of writing of Simon's career.
Rest in peace, Doc.
Posted: 8/27/18 at 12:03pm
He was a superlative talent. I admired how he could so smoothly inject an underlying seriousness into a comic situation. I sincerely doubt there will ever be another American playwright to equal his success and comedic genius. May he rest in peace.
Posted: 8/27/18 at 3:51pm
I think as a LIer growing up we were among the first to get cable television. I was a 12 year old kid when this revolution in media occurred. One of the first movies that I watched repeatedly was "The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue". Even though the movie got sub par reviews it was a work of genius to me. Who better than Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft for a drama/comedy?
Posted: 8/27/18 at 4:09pm
Marquee lights are being dimmed at 6:45 p.m. this Thursday, August 30.
http://www.playbill.com/article/broadway-theatres-will-dim-lights-in-memory-of-neil-simon
Posted: 8/27/18 at 5:26pm
I also reminisce about the TV show "The Odd Couple". There was an episode where Felix is getting tix from Oscar who is tricking him into reviews, funny stuff. In that episode I think Felix stalks Neil Simon.
Posted: 8/27/18 at 5:59pm
Posted: 8/27/18 at 6:33pm
My HS did Rumors for the fall play last year. It was really fun to work on - he will be missed
Posted: 8/27/18 at 9:09pm
He got his nickname “Doc” from his older brother. When he was a kid Neil went around wearing a stethoscope around his neck.
U r correct. Apparently it was toy one( the old fashioned "bell" style I suspect)
And also re the Fortune Cookie- I guess I am getting con fus ed in my decrepitude.
The man was prolific, while there is undoubtedly some chaff, there is still a goodly amount of wheat.
R.I.P. Mr Simon
Posted: 8/28/18 at 9:39am
He wrote so many great plays, but I will always have a soft spot for "Barefoot in the Park".
I love the play and I love the film adaptation which he adapted himself. I really am keeping my fingers crossed for a blu-ray release.
I sometimes find myself purposely walking by Paul and Corrie Bratter's building on 111 Waverly Place, although in the film it's supposed to be 49 W. 10th Street. In the play they live on East 48th Street.
He had a total of 4 shows running in 1967: Barefoot, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity and The Star Spangled Girl.
The film opened at Radio City Music Hall in May 25, 1967 while the play was still running on Broadway. The play closed a month later on June 25, 1967 after 1,530 performances.
RIP Mr. Simon, thanks for the laughs!!! 
Posted: 8/28/18 at 12:10pm
Simon was a great talent, and I look forward to the day his "complete works" are available in an omnibus the way Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams are. He is to comedy-drama what Miller is to straight drama and Williams is to melodrama: the titan of the twentieth century, whose biggest shows will likely remain in the canon of their era, even as the lesser ones remain fascinating footnotes.
I also admire his willingness to rewrite, revise and play around in the varying versions of "Little Me." I'm personally partial to the third version, where he and Martin Short both worked on new bits for the show to create a version that not only played to Short's strengths, but was less specifically tailored around Sid Caesar's own idiosyncracies. In a just world, this would be the licensed version of the show, but the infamous Tams-Witmark flood destroyed many of the licensing materials, leaving them to only license the original (though they sometimes provide the Simon-Short script on request).
