Neil Simon

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The second half of the season brings surprises

Comedy and danger
Those who missed out on LOREM IPSUM's Threepenny Opera this fall should get in line early for its spring production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, at SPACE Gallery (March 22-April 1).
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 28, 2011

Burbage’s muddled Maids

Help wanted
There are employee/employer disputes and then there is Jean Genet's The Maids , which makes the West Virginia railroad riots of 1877 look like an arms-crossed kid pouting over spinach on a plate.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 16, 2011

Review: 2nd Story's uproarious The Good Doctor

When Neil met Anton
Neil Simon may not be the most subtle of playwrights, too often tempted beyond endurance to go for the gag at the expense of motivation.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 30, 2011

Review: Jewish wit pervades Acorn's latest production

Wry humor
Around this time of year, the vast majority of holiday entertainment — Nutcrackers both Victorian and burlesque; innumerable A Christmas Carols ; even the rogue Sedaris debauchery of The Santaland Diaries — is some sort of riff on a holiday that's at least nominally Christian.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 08, 2010

Trinity's Absurd Person Singular

Trinity nails down Alan Ayckbourn
As playwriting goes, there's prolific and then there's prolific. There's, say, Shakespeare with his piddling 38 plays. And then there's someone like Alan Ayckbourn: 73 full-length babies, and counting.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 14, 2010

Cool drink on a hot day

With Table Manners, Gloucester Stage gives Ayckbourn his due
Alan Ayckbourn has been often dismissed as the British Neil Simon. He's also been hailed as a playwright of such acute insight that, if you look beyond the laughs, he deserves to be mentioned in the same critical breath as Harold Pinter.
By ED SIEGEL | July 05, 2010

Smart acting

Lyric's clever cast in Fools
When Neil Simon penned Fools , writes director Celeste Green in the program notes to her Lyric Music Theater production of the 1981 comedy, he was playing to lose: He was hoping not to make us laugh and cry, but to hose his investors and flout his ex-wife, who was promised the profits of his next play.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 24, 2010

The garden of Vittorio De Sica

Mostly high points at the Harvard Film Archive
Vittorio De Sica, the subject of a major retrospective at the Harvard Film Archive, "Vittorio De Sica — Neo-Realism, Melodrama, Fantasy," was a movie star in Italy before he became a filmmaker.
By STEVE VINEBERG | June 02, 2010

Play by play: May 7, 2010

Theater listings, May 7, 2010
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 04, 2010

Play by play: April 30, 2010

Theater listings, week of April 30, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 28, 2010

Play by play: April 23, 2010

Theater listings, week of April 23, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 21, 2010

Dynamic duo

Trinity Rep’s over-the-top The Odd Couple
There are King Oedipus and his mom, there are Romeo and Juliet, and there are Oscar and Felix.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 21, 2010

Play by play: April 16, 2010

Theater listings for the week of April 16, 2010
Theater listings for the week of April 16, 2010
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 15, 2010

A life on the boards

Trinity’s Fred Sullivan, Jr. hits 100
An actor who has done 100 productions at the same theater?
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 14, 2010

Play by play: April 9, 2010

Theater listings, April 9, 2010
Theater listings, April 9, 2010
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 06, 2010

Play by play: September 18, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 17, 2009

Play by play: September 11, 2009

Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 09, 2009

Play by play: September 4, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater guide
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 02, 2009

Play by play: July 17, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | July 15, 2009

Play by play: July 10, 2009

Plays from A to Z
This week in Boston theater
By JEFFREY GANTZ | July 08, 2009

Play by Play: July 3, 2009

Plays from A to Z
This week in Boston theater
By JEFFREY GANTZ | July 06, 2009

Play by Play: June 26, 2009

Plays for A to Z
Boston theater this week
By JEFFREY GANTZ | June 23, 2009

Farcing facts

Seacoast Rep knows some funny Rumors
The Brocks' posh house in the suburbs of New York is a study in contrasting eras: Its turn-of-the-century architecture is trimmed with gorgeous wood moldings and banister, with austere green and amber stained glass.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | April 15, 2009