Chapter Two (play)
| Chapter Two | |
|---|---|
Playbill cover
|
|
| Written by | Neil Simon |
| Date premiered | October 7, 1977 |
| Place premiered |
Ahmanson Theatre Los Angeles |
| Subject | A writer struggles to escape the memory of his recently deceased wife |
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Chapter Two | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Moore |
| Produced by | Ray Stark |
| Written by | Neil Simon |
| Starring |
James Caan Marsha Mason |
| Music by | Shinichi Yamazaki |
| Cinematography | David M. Walsh |
| Edited by | Michael A. Stevenson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
|
December 14, 1979 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $30,000,000 |
Chapter Two (1977 play) is a semi-autobiographical play by the director-dramatist Neil Simon about the coping of a recently widowed writer George Schneider who is introduced by his press agent brother to soap opera actress Jennie Malone. Jennie's marriage to a football player has dissolved after six years. Both are uncertain of themselves as ready to start dating and developing a new romance when the breakup is so soon and George Schneider has recurring memories of his deceased wife, Barbara.
According to Sheridan Morley, "This was in some ways the turning-point for Simon, the moment when he started to use his own life as something more than an excuse for a gag-fest. It was written as a tribute to Marsha Mason, his second wife, and her tolerance with his long-lasting grief over the death of his first wife...There is something very painful here, in among the gags, about a man trying to come to terms with death rather than a new life."
World Premiere: at the Los Angeles Ahmanson Theatre on October 7, 1977, closing November 26. Produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Herbert Ross, the cast included: Judd Hirsch as George, Anita Gillette as Jennie, Cliff Gorman as Leo, and Ann Wedgeworth as Faye. The production won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (1977–78): Distinguished Production; and Neil Simon, Distinguished Playwriting.
Opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre with the same Los Angeles cast, on December 4, 1977, and transferred to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in January 1979, where it closed on December 8, 1979 after 857 performances and seven previews. Cast replacements included: David Groh, Dick Latessa, Laurence Luckinbill, Robin Strasser, and Susan Browning. Tony Awards nominations lost: Tony Award for Best Play (1978) to Da by Hugh Leonard; Anita Gillette for Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (1978) and Cliff Gorman for Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (1978). Ann Wedgeworth won: Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (1978).
...
Wikipedia