What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

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What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:27pm

My vote is BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS.

Wonderful Depression Setting; (worked for FLORA, THE RED MENANCE), PLENTY OF EXCELLENT SUPPORTING ROLES and a ready-made tour de force performance for Angela Lansbury as Kate.

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:34pm

Because she's so....Jewish? And isn't Kate the mother? Lansbury is about 30 years past being able to get away with that, I would think.

Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:35pm

The Gingerbread Lady- Think of Patti in the role!

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:38pm

Rath,

I've already tried to fight that battle (shiksa princesses in Jewish roles) and LOST ROYALL!

Regarding Age, Lansbury might be a little too old for part, but I love her SO MUCH I would pay to see her recite her grocery list!

Maybe Betty Buckley is a more inspired choice.

Well Rath, what do you think? :)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:55pm

Unfortunately, the great Mme. Lansbury said in an interview sometime ago that she's finished with the stage -- too demanding for her at her age (though I hold out hope that she could be coaxed into doing a concert or a very limited run in something).'

As for the question, I wonder how well his plays would adapt into musicals. Most feature two character scenes and a single set and probably wouldn't expand well. It strikes me that the ideas he's had that he thought lent themselves to musicalization, he's already turned into musicals -- Little Me, Promises Promises, They're Playing Our Song, Sweet Charity, The Goodbye Girl. I don't know -- how about his movie "The Out-of-Towners" (the original version, not the unfunny remake).

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 2:59pm

Betty - also, a big ol' shiksa - also beginning to show a bit too much age to be the mother of young boys. This is coming from a shiksa who is currently playing Hodel in a production of FIDDLER, true, but it's not a professional production.

I'm blanking on appropriate actresses right now...I'll get back to you.

Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

Updated On: 10/11/04 at 02:59 PM

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 3:05pm

Margo,

At the risk of repeating myself, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS is an ENSEMBLE piece that could be "opened up" beautifully like the film version did--scenes at beach, at older's soon office, at poolhall, etc.

Re: THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS--VERY funny, I agree, but humor is tied to a New York that just doesn't exist anymore.

That is why the film remake was about as funny as a triple bypass.

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 3:14pm

Sabrelady,

Patti LuPone in THE GINGERBREAD LADY! YES!

Although play is somewhat flawed in my opinion (too many emotional peaks and valleys in my opinion), perhaps Simon could re-think for musical version.

I saw Shelley Winters do play in Chicago years ago and I was SPELLBOUND. Relationship between mother and daughter is a knockout! I see it almost as a semi-operatic piece (like DREAMGIRLS, SUNSET BLVD., etc.)

By the way, have you ever seen diluted film version of play with Marsha Mason(!)--ONLY WHEN I LAUGH?

Please, don't get me started. . . :)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 6:28pm

The Odd Couple - expanded of course

Poster Emeritus

#10

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 6:50pm

Mr. Roxy,

Who's your choice for the musical Oscar and Felix?

Would you have a big "ballet" number when Felix cleans the apartment? :)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

#11

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 7:05pm

While my preference would be Brighton Beach Memoirs, I think that some claims could come from Laughter On The 23rd Floor. True, it was not a great success as a play but, it does contain an extensively neurotic central character and a whole raft of eccentric supporting characters. Also, it has a certain cache in terms of language. Remember the line, ' I'm going to miss speaking f___.' But, most of all it is about the early days of television- a concept that is not hard to sell.

'Try not to have a good time...this is supposed to be educational.' - Lucy Van Pelt

#12

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 10:40pm

funny you should mention the "Odd Couple". I must confess that for several years I've had a secret ambition to produce an "Odd Couple" project for stage. Can't go into detail...cause you never know who might like my early creative ramblings! But it's great source material.

Any rich investors out there?

www.pbentertainmentinc.com BWW regional writer "Philadelphia/South Jersey"

#13

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 10:44pm

While we're on the subject of Neil Simon...I think I'd like to see a revival of They're Playing Our Song with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker. A lot of money to be made there.

#14

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 10:45pm

Wasn't there some recent news that Matthew and Broderick might do a revival of THE ODD COUPLE soon? Except, according to Matthew in a recent interview, that they couldn't decide who would play Oscar and who would play Felix

I would love to see that one!

#15

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 10:49pm

Hi Morosco,

Matthew Broderick as the uptight middle class Broadway Composer and Sarah Jessica Parker as the free-spirited ditzy pop lyricst?

Sorry, it's NOT developing in my camera! :)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

#16

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 10:55pm

The Brighton Beach Trilogy, totally. I'd like to see Barefoot in the Park too.

"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."

#17

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/11/04 at 11:59pm

As for "The Gingerbread Lady", this was the musical that Neil Simon was trying to write, with Marvin Hamlisch, and it was not going anywhere. They decided to stop working on it but Simon remembered conversations that he had had during his working sessions with Hamlisch about his relationship with Carole Bayer Sager. A few months later Simon presented Hamlisch with a new script based on the relationship of a Composer and Lyricist and that musical became "They’re Playing Our Song".

"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#18

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 12:20am

wow barefoot in the park would make an interesting musical.
by the way that's one of my all time favorite movies!

#19

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 6:00pm

Marquise,

I see Marc Kudish & Sutton Faster in the musical version... you think it will play? :)

By the way, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK was Simon's semi-autobiographical portroyal of newlywed life with his wife, Joan.

After Joan passed away, he again used his life for art and wrote CHAPTER TWO, about a widower who recently lost his wife.

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

#20

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 6:49pm

Beaverhausen,

Definitely... YOU CAN'T MAKE IT WITH YOU would make a PRIME Musical! The Depression Setting, all those marvelous characters (each one a little "off" in their own way,) and the theme (Happiness vs. Money) AS IMPORTANT today as it was in 1937.

I'm racking my brain, but can't think of the right artist for Grandpa... who do you see? :)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

Updated On: 10/12/04 at 06:49 PM

#21

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 10:03pm

Laughter on the 23rd Floor
I saw it last spring at a local college and it was hysterical!

#22

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 10:07pm

Pab,

That is SO COOL!!!

I had no idea THAT was the genesis of THEY'RE PLAYING MY SONG. Have you seen the production?

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

#23

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/12/04 at 11:50pm

Yes, I saw Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz do the show on Broadway a number of years ago. I think it was around 1979.

"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

#24

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/13/04 at 9:37am

Laughter on the 23rd Floor as a musical could very possibly end up very similar to My Favorite Year.

"Singing is the lowest form of communication" - Homer

#25

re: What Neil Simon Plays Would Make Good Musicals?

Posted: 10/13/04 at 12:27pm

Brighton Beach Memoirs, DEFINITELY. It has great components for a musical. The characters want to sing (in my head at least). I'd love to see a puberty patter song thrown into the mix. Hahahaha.

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