University of Virginia Library

The Broadway Beat

Neil Simon's 'Last Of The Red Hot Lovers'

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

NEW YORK - As author John
Knowles once noted, when a writer
sets a very high standard for himself
with a particular work or succession
of works, he had better be able to
reach that standard every time out.
It will be expected of him.

Neil Simon established himself
as the best comedy playwright of
the sixties with an unbroken siting
of Broadway hits which included
"Barefoot in the Park," "The Odd
Couple," and "Plaza Suite." And
while he was proving himself to be
a comic genius time and time again,
he became the most financially
successful writer in theatrical history
(his income is conservatively
estimated at $45,000 a week).

Mr. Simon's newest play is
entitled "Last of the Red Hot
Lovers" and it provides an undeniably
pleasant evening of theatre.
Unfortunately, it is also disappointing
in that the knockout punch of
the author's previous comedies is
noticeably missing.

If you go to "Last of the Red
Hot Lovers," do not expect to see
the Neil Simon of old, for the
playwright has vowed never to
write another play just for laughs.
He wants to comment on serious
aspects of life and certainly no
one can fault him for this aspiration.
Thus, "Lovers" can be best
viewed as a transition work.

Extra-Marital Fling

The play concerns the sexual
misadventures of Barney Cashman,
a fat, middle-aged restaurateur
who wakes up one morning and
realizes that nothing exciting has
ever happened to him. To try to
remedy this, he decides to have one
- just one - extra-marital fling. In
each of the three acts he nervously
tries to seduce three different
females, of course unsuccessfully
each time.

He tries first with an experienced,
gum-chewing customer who
wants less talk and more action.
When she isn't looking at her
watch, she is complaining to Barney
about being out of cigarettes.
Throughout it all, Barney seems to
be more interested in socializing
than in seducing.

There is little to criticize in this
opening segment. As it nears its
end, Barney understands why he
couldn't do it with Elaine in a scene
which has much dramatic poignance.
Also, there is a distinct
originality to the character of
Elaine, which gives the extended
sketch a certain freshness.

The second time out Barney
goes after a "hip" young actress
who is just as interested in smoking
as Elaine. Only in Bobbi's case it
isn't cigarettes, but rather marijuana.
While Barney becomes increasingly
impatient, she relates to
him all sorts of weird experiences
she claims to have had.

This act is much less satisfying
than the first. Not only is it
less humorous, but Mr. Simon does
not advance his dramatic purpose
(i.e., Barney's realization that there
can be no satisfaction in his sexual
wanderings) any further than he did
in the previous episode.

Wife's Best Friend

After failing twice, Barney attempts
to make it with his wife's
best friend. She is, to say the least,
reluctant, as is evidenced by her
refusal to even put her pocketbook
down and her statements about
how wrong the whole thing is.

This final playlet brings the
evening to a satisfactory close. The
dialogue here is at its brightest, and
Mr. Simon does return to and
enhance the serious aspect of the
situation after by-passing it in the
second act. Moreover, the atmosphere
in this one seems much less
restrained than in the first two.

Several times during the course
of the evening. I thought "Last of
the Red Hot Lovers" would read
better than it played. The gag lines
in many cases seemed to be
stronger than they sounded. This is
partially due to Robert Moore's
staging, which is basically clean and
efficient, but which lacks the comic
zest and alacrity that Mike Nichols'
direction of Mr. Simon's three best
plays contained.

Overweight Nobody

The four actors, however, deserve
nothing but the highest
laurels. As Barney, James Coco rises
admirably to the difficult task of
conveying the desires, the regrets,
and the fumblings of an overweight
nobody whose biggest claim to
fame is the alliterative menus he
writes. The owner of "Queen of the
Sea" is at once comic and pathetic.
Mr. Coco makes us laugh at the
ridiculousness of the man, and then
makes a point of reminding us that
Barney is our friendly milkman, is
our neighborhood grocer, is our
mailman who smiles after being
bitten by our dog. And Mr. Coco is
an extremely talented actor.

Moving to his women, Doris
Roberts wonderfully frowns her
way through the part of his wife's
best friend. Like Barney, she is an
ordinary being in a middle-aged rut.
Linda Lavin is the prettiest of the
three and is delightful as the lady
with smoker's cough in desperate
need of a cigarette. Marcia Rodd
plays the talkative pick-up in act
two with a youthful bounce and
she makes the most of the least
successful of Mr. Simon's
characters.

Notice I say "least successful"
and not "unsuccessful." Mr.
Simon's play, like his career, cannot
be measured in terms of success and
failure; it must be measured in
varying degrees of success. "Last of
the Red Hot Lovers" is less
successful than some of the
author's previous works and therefore
a disappointment. But it is
often funny, it is beautifully
structured, and it does have something
worthwhile to say. I recommend
it.

One final word. You really have
to give the playwright credit for his
handling of the business end of the
project. Of course, he receives 10%
of the weekly gross as his author's
share, and since "Last of the Red
Hot Lovers" is now an SRO hit that
means almost $6,000 a week. But
he also financed the play himself,
which is to say that he receives
about 100% of all clear-cut profits,
which rockets into the five-figure
mark each week. And, finally, he
booked the play into the Eugene
O'Neill Theatre, which he rented
with no difficulty from its owner,
whose name also happens to be Neil
Simon.