Theatrical Insults

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:43pm

I believe I read in Playbill's Opening Night Coverage of Barefoot that Neil Simon didn't attend....and pretty much refused to leave California. The 'story' is that he was working on his next play.

I'm sure there's SOME element of truth to it. However, there's got to be some lie there, too. Neil Simon is not an easily pleased man.

If I were acting in a play, for the playwright NOT to show up to the Opening (Mr. Simon only attended the 1st preview), I'd be more insulted than getting a hoard of negative reviews.

Do you agree? Can anyone think of any other theatrical insults?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:44pm

I have to wonder why people always think there's some underlying alterior motive, and can't just accept things for what they are.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:50pm

Why should a playwright have to do any more than write the play?

Seems to me that's more than enough and people should be just grateful they put forth the effort to accomplish it.

Was he offered a free plane ticket, free hotel rooms? Maybe he likes warm weather in the winter. It's not like this is the first time the show's been onstage.

I say hooray for playwrights!

How lucky the theatre is to have them!
Updated On: 2/20/06 at 08:50 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:57pm

According to numerous reports over the past five or so years, Mr. Simon has become a very unpleasant person - and particularly nasty ro actors.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:01pm

Emcee, Nom, if you were acting in a play, no matter if it was produced before, wouldn't you consider it an insult if he didn't show up at your opening night?

[jv92]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:04pm

Well, maybe he didn't aprove of the production. Not everything on Broadway should be a lovefest nowadays.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:04pm

Not if he had a legitimate excuse, no.

That's not really the point. Don't assume it's something it's not, is all I'm saying. He's not like. required to go.

Updated On: 2/20/06 at 09:04 PM

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:08pm

I wouldn't be insulted. The playwright doesn't usually have anything to do with the actual production, so why should they be obligated to go? If they had been involved throughout, engaged with the actors, and then didn't show up....yes I might take it personally but even then, it's not part of their job description. I'm an actor and a playwright...and as a playwright I'd want to go to the opening night but that's because I'm young and me...and not Neil Simon.

also yankee, your signiature makes me laugh.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:10pm

Why, thank you, OddExoticCreature....I guarantee that that production would sell out in seconds. If I had won the Powerball, I would have gone for it...

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:14pm

When I saw the title I though this was going to be a thread where people said things like

"Fans of Brooklyn have more sophisticated tastes than you."

or

"You make Tracy Turnblad look like Kate Moss"

Updated On: 2/20/06 at 09:14 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:17pm

Nope.

I wouldn't mind a bit if he didn't show up.

I don't expect Shakespeare's ghost to show up every time one of his shows goes up, either. In fact, I'd rather he didn't.

And did you ever think that sometimes the playwrights do show up and the actors do not treat them well?

[morosco]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:23pm

No need for Simon to be in town...doesn't Marsha Mason usually deliver his insults?

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:29pm

I really couldn't care less if he showed up or not. And we are getting a little carried away. Actors sometimes cannot show up for their Awards... it is not like it was a World Premiere.

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:33pm

"You make Tracy Turnblad look like Kate Moss" HAHAHAHAHAHA "you make Harvey Fierstein sound like a choir of angels"

[wexy]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:36pm

He's gonna be 79. Maybe he's not up to going cross country. Thats' tough on an older person.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:58pm

I thought In My Life asking people to pay for it was a Theatrical Insult.

[BrianWilsonFan]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 10:13pm

When you've been there and done that as many times as he has what's his motivation to just keep doing the same thing over and over?

By now he's found a chair that fits him and he's grown attached...

[Plum]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 11:07pm

"If you take sexual advantage of that girl, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters... and people who talk in theaters."

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 11:34pm

Good one, Plum.

Also, think about it this way. Do screenwriters dally around the film set, hovering around the director making sure that their personal vision is carried out? Nope. I think it's the same as playwrights. You could even switch the argument around: would you be insulted if the playwright was a no show--or if the audience didn't come? Hmm...

[tim10086]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 12:59am

Yo mamma's so fat, when she played Mme Thenardier they had her come out of the orchestra pit during One Day More.

[seabyrd]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 1:29am

Marsha Mason??? Welcome to this century - Elaine Joyce is the new bearer of bad tidings.

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 1:34am

You're going down like Idina Menzel.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 2:09am

Jim Steinman didn't turn up for the Broadway premiere of DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES. Can't say I blame him

He also wasn't at GARBO THE MUSICAL

But he's been there every night at THE DREAM ENGINE / OVER THE TOP so far

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 6:05am

Even if it's Broadway, it's a revival, so no real insult.
His plays are performed everywhere and all the time, so if that was the case, we'd have thousands of offended actors.