Copyright © 2015 Bert N. Langford (Images may be subject to copyright. Please send feedback)
Welcome to Our Generation USA!
Below, we cover Theater and Stage including plays (and their playwrights) influencing generations, from 1950 until today.
A Listing of Stage/Theatrical Plays
YouTube Video of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Part 1) - CUG&S Lent Term Mainshow 2013
Pictured: LEFT: Poster for "Fiddler on the Roof" starring Zero Mostel (1964): RIGHT: Two-person play "Venus on Fur" (2010 Starring Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley.
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading.
Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to Community theater, as well as University or school productions.
There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed or read. The term "play" can refer to both the written works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance.
Genres:
Comedy:
Comedies are plays which are designed to be humorous. Comedies are often filled with witty remarks, unusual characters, and strange circumstances. Certain comedies are geared toward different age groups. Comedies were one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece, along with tragedies.
An example of a comedy would be William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," or for a more modern example the skits from "Saturday Night Live".
Farce:
A generally nonsensical genre of play, farces are often overacted and often involve slapstick humor.
An example of a farce includes William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, or Mark Twain's play Is He Dead?.
Satirical:
A satire play takes a comic look at current events people while at the same time attempting to make a political or social statement, for example pointing out corruption. An example of a satire would be Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Satire plays are generally one of the most popular forms of comedy, and often considered to be their own genre entirely.
Restoration Comedy:
This is a genre that explored relationships between men and women, and was considered risqué in its time.
Characters featured in restoration comedy included stereotypes of all kinds, and these same stereotypes were found in most plays of this genre, so much so that most plays were very similar in message and content. However, since restoration comedy dealt with unspoken aspects of relationships, it created a type of connection between audience and performance that was more informal and private.
It is commonly agreed that restoration comedy has origins in Molière’s theories of comedy, but differs in intention and tone.
The inconsistency between restoration comedy’s morals and the morals of the era is something that often arises during the study of this genre. This may give clues as to why, despite its original success, restoration comedy did not last long in the seventeenth century. However, in recent years, it has become a topic of interest for theater theorists, who have been looking into theater styles that have their own conventions of performance.
Tragedy:
These plays contain darker themes such as death and disaster. Often the protagonist of the play has a tragic flaw, a trait which leads to their downfall. Tragic plays convey all emotions, and have extremely dramatic conflicts. Tragedy was one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece. Some examples of tragedies include William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and also John Webster's play The Duchess of Malfi.
Historical:
These plays focus on actual historical events. They can be tragedies or comedies, but are often neither of these. History as a separate genre was popularized by William Shakespeare.
Examples of historical plays include Friedrich Schiller's Demetrius and William Shakespeare's King John.
Musical Theater:
Ballad opera, a popular theater style at the time, was the first style of musical to be performed in the American colonies. The first musical of American origin was premiered in Philadelphia in 1767, and was called “The Disappointment”, however, this play never made it to production.
Around the 1920s, theater styles were beginning to be defined more clearly. For musical theatre, this meant that composers gained the right to create every song in the play, and these new plays were held to more specific conventions, such as thirty-two-bar songs. When the Great Depression came, many people left Broadway for Hollywood, and the atmosphere of Broadway musicals changed significantly. A similar situation occurred during the 1960s, when composers were scarce and musicals lacked vibrancy and entertainment value.
By the 1990s, there were very few original Broadway musicals, as many were recreations of movies or novels.
Musical productions have songs to help explain the story and move the ideas of the play along. They are usually accompanied by dancing. Musicals can be very elaborate in settings and actor performances. Examples of musical productions include Wicked and Fiddler on the Roof.
Theater of Cruelty:
This theater style originated in the 1940s when Antonin Artaud hypothesized about the effects of expressing through the body as opposed to “by socially conditioned thought.” In 1946, he wrote a preface to his works in which he explained how he came to write what and the way he did.
Above all, Artaud did not trust language as a means of communication. Plays within the genre of theatre of cruelty are abstract in convention and content. Artaud wanted his plays to have an effect and accomplish something.
His intention was to symbolize the subconscious through bodily performances, as he did not believe language could be effective. Artaud considered his plays to be an enactment rather than a re-enactment, which meant he believed his actors were in reality, rather than re-enacting reality.
His plays dealt with heavy issues such as patients in psych wards, and Nazi Germany. Through these performances, he wanted to “make the causes of suffering audible”, however, audiences originally reacted poorly, as they were so taken aback by what they saw. Much of his work was banned in France at the time.
Artaud did not believe that conventional theater of the time would allow the audience to have a cathartic experience and help heal the wounds of World War II. For this reason, he moved towards radio-based theatre, in which the audience could use their imagination to connect the words they were hearing to their body. This made his work much more personal and individualized, which he believed would increase the effectiveness of portraying suffering.
Theater of the Absurd:
This genre generally includes metaphysical representations of existential qualms and questions. Theatre of the absurd denies rationality, and embraces the inevitability of falling into the abyss of the human condition. Instead of discussing these issues, however, theatre of the absurd is a demonstration of them. This leaves the audience to discuss and question the content of the play for themselves.
One of the main aspects of theater of the absurd is the physical contradiction to language. Oftentimes, the dialogue between characters will directly oppose their actions.
Famous playwrights within this genre include Beckett, Sartre, Ionesco, Adamov, and Genet.
Terminology:
The term "play" can be either a general term, or more specifically refer to a non-musical play. Sometimes the term "straight play" is used in contrast to "musical", which refers to a play based on music, dance, and songs sung by the play's characters. For a short play, the term "playlet" is sometimes used.
See Also:
Lists:
Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to Community theater, as well as University or school productions.
There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed or read. The term "play" can refer to both the written works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance.
Genres:
Comedy:
Comedies are plays which are designed to be humorous. Comedies are often filled with witty remarks, unusual characters, and strange circumstances. Certain comedies are geared toward different age groups. Comedies were one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece, along with tragedies.
An example of a comedy would be William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," or for a more modern example the skits from "Saturday Night Live".
Farce:
A generally nonsensical genre of play, farces are often overacted and often involve slapstick humor.
An example of a farce includes William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, or Mark Twain's play Is He Dead?.
Satirical:
A satire play takes a comic look at current events people while at the same time attempting to make a political or social statement, for example pointing out corruption. An example of a satire would be Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Satire plays are generally one of the most popular forms of comedy, and often considered to be their own genre entirely.
Restoration Comedy:
This is a genre that explored relationships between men and women, and was considered risqué in its time.
Characters featured in restoration comedy included stereotypes of all kinds, and these same stereotypes were found in most plays of this genre, so much so that most plays were very similar in message and content. However, since restoration comedy dealt with unspoken aspects of relationships, it created a type of connection between audience and performance that was more informal and private.
It is commonly agreed that restoration comedy has origins in Molière’s theories of comedy, but differs in intention and tone.
The inconsistency between restoration comedy’s morals and the morals of the era is something that often arises during the study of this genre. This may give clues as to why, despite its original success, restoration comedy did not last long in the seventeenth century. However, in recent years, it has become a topic of interest for theater theorists, who have been looking into theater styles that have their own conventions of performance.
Tragedy:
These plays contain darker themes such as death and disaster. Often the protagonist of the play has a tragic flaw, a trait which leads to their downfall. Tragic plays convey all emotions, and have extremely dramatic conflicts. Tragedy was one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece. Some examples of tragedies include William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and also John Webster's play The Duchess of Malfi.
Historical:
These plays focus on actual historical events. They can be tragedies or comedies, but are often neither of these. History as a separate genre was popularized by William Shakespeare.
Examples of historical plays include Friedrich Schiller's Demetrius and William Shakespeare's King John.
Musical Theater:
Ballad opera, a popular theater style at the time, was the first style of musical to be performed in the American colonies. The first musical of American origin was premiered in Philadelphia in 1767, and was called “The Disappointment”, however, this play never made it to production.
Around the 1920s, theater styles were beginning to be defined more clearly. For musical theatre, this meant that composers gained the right to create every song in the play, and these new plays were held to more specific conventions, such as thirty-two-bar songs. When the Great Depression came, many people left Broadway for Hollywood, and the atmosphere of Broadway musicals changed significantly. A similar situation occurred during the 1960s, when composers were scarce and musicals lacked vibrancy and entertainment value.
By the 1990s, there were very few original Broadway musicals, as many were recreations of movies or novels.
Musical productions have songs to help explain the story and move the ideas of the play along. They are usually accompanied by dancing. Musicals can be very elaborate in settings and actor performances. Examples of musical productions include Wicked and Fiddler on the Roof.
Theater of Cruelty:
This theater style originated in the 1940s when Antonin Artaud hypothesized about the effects of expressing through the body as opposed to “by socially conditioned thought.” In 1946, he wrote a preface to his works in which he explained how he came to write what and the way he did.
Above all, Artaud did not trust language as a means of communication. Plays within the genre of theatre of cruelty are abstract in convention and content. Artaud wanted his plays to have an effect and accomplish something.
His intention was to symbolize the subconscious through bodily performances, as he did not believe language could be effective. Artaud considered his plays to be an enactment rather than a re-enactment, which meant he believed his actors were in reality, rather than re-enacting reality.
His plays dealt with heavy issues such as patients in psych wards, and Nazi Germany. Through these performances, he wanted to “make the causes of suffering audible”, however, audiences originally reacted poorly, as they were so taken aback by what they saw. Much of his work was banned in France at the time.
Artaud did not believe that conventional theater of the time would allow the audience to have a cathartic experience and help heal the wounds of World War II. For this reason, he moved towards radio-based theatre, in which the audience could use their imagination to connect the words they were hearing to their body. This made his work much more personal and individualized, which he believed would increase the effectiveness of portraying suffering.
Theater of the Absurd:
This genre generally includes metaphysical representations of existential qualms and questions. Theatre of the absurd denies rationality, and embraces the inevitability of falling into the abyss of the human condition. Instead of discussing these issues, however, theatre of the absurd is a demonstration of them. This leaves the audience to discuss and question the content of the play for themselves.
One of the main aspects of theater of the absurd is the physical contradiction to language. Oftentimes, the dialogue between characters will directly oppose their actions.
Famous playwrights within this genre include Beckett, Sartre, Ionesco, Adamov, and Genet.
Terminology:
The term "play" can be either a general term, or more specifically refer to a non-musical play. Sometimes the term "straight play" is used in contrast to "musical", which refers to a play based on music, dance, and songs sung by the play's characters. For a short play, the term "playlet" is sometimes used.
See Also:
- Canovaccio
- Closet drama
- Drama
- Dramatis personæ
- Playwright
- Theater
- History of theater
- Screenplay
- Musical theater
Lists:
- List of basic theater topics
- List of American plays
- List of Canadian plays
- List of Romanian plays
- List of films based on stage plays or musicals
- List of plays made into feature films
The Tony Award for Stage/Theater including a List of Winners
YouTube Video from "The Lion King" Theatrical Play (a Disney Production)
Pictured: LEFT: "The Producers", Winner of a Tony Award for Best Musical (1979) by Mel Brooks Starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick). RIGHT: "Evita", Winner of a Tony Award for Best Musical (1979), music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City.
The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document "Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards", which applies for that season only. The Tony Awards are considered the highest U.S. theatre honor, the New York theatre industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for motion pictures, the Grammy Awards for music, the Emmy Awards for television and AIAS (D.I.C.E. Awards) for video games.
It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards. The Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France.
From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, when it was held at the Gershwin Theatre.
In 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall. The 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2016 at the Beacon Theatre.
Click here for a list of Tony Award Winners.
The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document "Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards", which applies for that season only. The Tony Awards are considered the highest U.S. theatre honor, the New York theatre industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for motion pictures, the Grammy Awards for music, the Emmy Awards for television and AIAS (D.I.C.E. Awards) for video games.
It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards. The Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France.
From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, when it was held at the Gershwin Theatre.
In 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall. The 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2016 at the Beacon Theatre.
Click here for a list of Tony Award Winners.
The 10 Best Outdoor Theater Experiences courtesy of Fodor's Travel
YouTube Video of "Into the Woods Live" in the Central Park (complete)
Pictured: RIGHT: Muny Opera, St. Louis, MO; RIGHT: The Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA
When the weather warms up, the arts move outdoors—and seeing a play or musical under a starry sky is one of the best ways to spend a summer evening. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of open-air venues across the country that let you take in a show while enjoying fresh air and scenic views.
From theaters nestled in the mountains, to one right in the middle of Central Park, here are the country’s 10 best spots for seeing live theater in the great outdoors.
From theaters nestled in the mountains, to one right in the middle of Central Park, here are the country’s 10 best spots for seeing live theater in the great outdoors.
Stage Playwrights including a List of Playwrights
YouTube Video of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at Arena Stage
Pictured: LEFT: Playwright Edward Albee’s play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”; RIGHT: Playwright Arthur Miller’s Play “Death of a Salesman”
A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.
Click Here for an alphabetical Listing and including all Countries.
Click Here for an alphabetical Listing and including all Countries.
Stage Plays made into a Movie
YouTube Video from the Movie "Birdcage" (1996) featuring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane
Pictured: Posters for the Movies LEFT: “Barefoot in the Park” (1967); RIGHT: Les Misérables (2012: by Source, Fair Use)
Broadway Theater District (Manhattan, New York)
YouTube Video: The Broadway District at Night
Pictured: A map of the Broadway Theater District and it primary Theatrical Venues
Broadway theater, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 40 professional theaters with 500 or more seats located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Broadway theaters are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theater in the English-speaking world.
The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, for the 2015 – 2016 season (which ended May 22, 2016), total attendance was 13,317,980 and Broadway shows had US$1,373,253,725 in grosses, with attendance up 1.6%, grosses up 0.6%, and playing weeks up 1.4%.
The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.
Click on any of the following for amplification:
Broadway theaters are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theater in the English-speaking world.
The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, for the 2015 – 2016 season (which ended May 22, 2016), total attendance was 13,317,980 and Broadway shows had US$1,373,253,725 in grosses, with attendance up 1.6%, grosses up 0.6%, and playing weeks up 1.4%.
The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.
Click on any of the following for amplification:
Hamilton (Musical)
YouTube Video Hamilton cast performs "Alexander Hamilton" at White House
Pictured: Lin-Manuel Miranda as "Alexander Hamilton"
Hamilton: An American Musical is a sung-through musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The show, inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow, achieved both critical acclaim and box office success.
The musical made its Off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater in February 2015, where its engagement was sold out. The show moved to Broadway in August 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
On Broadway, it received enthusiastic critical reception and unprecedented advance box office sales. In 2016, Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical, and was also the recipient of the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The prior off-Broadway production of Hamilton won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical as well as seven other Drama Desk Awards out of 14 total nominated categories.
The Chicago production of Hamilton opened at the PrivateBank Theatre in October 2016. A U.S. national tour is scheduled to begin performances in March 2017. A production of Hamilton will also open in the West End in November 2017 at the Victoria Palace Theatre.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the musical stage play "Hamilton":
The show, inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow, achieved both critical acclaim and box office success.
The musical made its Off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater in February 2015, where its engagement was sold out. The show moved to Broadway in August 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
On Broadway, it received enthusiastic critical reception and unprecedented advance box office sales. In 2016, Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical, and was also the recipient of the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The prior off-Broadway production of Hamilton won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical as well as seven other Drama Desk Awards out of 14 total nominated categories.
The Chicago production of Hamilton opened at the PrivateBank Theatre in October 2016. A U.S. national tour is scheduled to begin performances in March 2017. A production of Hamilton will also open in the West End in November 2017 at the Victoria Palace Theatre.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the musical stage play "Hamilton":
- Background
- Synopsis
- Roles and principal casts
- Musical numbers
- Critical response
- Productions
- Box office and business
- Awards and nominations
- Concept
- Legacy and impact
- Parody
Andrew Lloyd Webber
YouTube Video 2013 February Concert; Ponaganset Concert Chorus: "Andrew Lloyd Webber in Concert"
Pictured: LEFT: Andrew Lloyd Webber on the cover of Time magazine; RIGHT: snippets of cast members of the Musical Cats that he composed.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre.
Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway.
He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass.
Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals, notably:
In 2001 the New York Times referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". Ranked the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" by The Telegraph in 2008, the lyricist Don Black stated "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical."
He has received a number of awards, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from Queen Elizabeth II for services to Music, seven Tonys, three Grammys (as well as the Grammy Legend Award), an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe, a Brit Award, the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2008 Classic Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theater operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of the Lloyd Webber musicals under licence from the Really Useful Group.
Lloyd Webber is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, West London. He is involved in a number of charitable activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nordoff Robbins, Prostate Cancer UK and War Child. In 1992 he set up the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which supports the arts, culture and heritage in the UK.
Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway.
He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass.
Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals, notably:
- "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera,
- "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar,
- "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "You Must Love Me" from Evita,
- "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- and "Memory" from Cats.
In 2001 the New York Times referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". Ranked the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" by The Telegraph in 2008, the lyricist Don Black stated "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical."
He has received a number of awards, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from Queen Elizabeth II for services to Music, seven Tonys, three Grammys (as well as the Grammy Legend Award), an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe, a Brit Award, the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2008 Classic Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theater operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of the Lloyd Webber musicals under licence from the Really Useful Group.
Lloyd Webber is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, West London. He is involved in a number of charitable activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nordoff Robbins, Prostate Cancer UK and War Child. In 1992 he set up the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which supports the arts, culture and heritage in the UK.
Neil Simon
YouTube Video of Movie Trailer for the Odd Couple
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He has written more than thirty plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly adaptations of his plays. He has received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.
Simon grew up in New York during the Great Depression, with his parents' financial hardships affecting their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood.
Simon often took refuge in movie theaters where he enjoyed watching the early comedians like Charlie Chaplin. After a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve, and after graduating from high school, he began writing comedy scripts for radio and some popular early television shows. Among them were Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows from 1950 (where he worked alongside other young writers including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Selma Diamond), and The Phil Silvers Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.
Simon began writing his own plays beginning with Come Blow Your Horn (1961), which took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two more successful plays, Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965), for which he won a Tony Award. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway."
During the 1960s to 1980s, he wrote both original screenplays and stage plays, with some films actually based on his plays. His style ranged from romantic comedy to farce to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. During one season, he had four successful plays running on Broadway at the same time, and in 1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Neil Simon:
Simon grew up in New York during the Great Depression, with his parents' financial hardships affecting their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood.
Simon often took refuge in movie theaters where he enjoyed watching the early comedians like Charlie Chaplin. After a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve, and after graduating from high school, he began writing comedy scripts for radio and some popular early television shows. Among them were Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows from 1950 (where he worked alongside other young writers including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Selma Diamond), and The Phil Silvers Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.
Simon began writing his own plays beginning with Come Blow Your Horn (1961), which took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two more successful plays, Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965), for which he won a Tony Award. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway."
During the 1960s to 1980s, he wrote both original screenplays and stage plays, with some films actually based on his plays. His style ranged from romantic comedy to farce to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. During one season, he had four successful plays running on Broadway at the same time, and in 1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Neil Simon:
- Early years
- Writing career
- Themes and genres
- Characters
- Style and subject matter
- Critical response
- Personal life
- Honors and recognition
- Awards
- Work
- See also:
- Neil Simon on IMDb
- Neil Simon at the Internet Broadway Database
- Neil Simon at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- The Neil Simon Festival
- PBS article, American Masters
- James Lipton (Winter 1992). "Neil Simon, The Art of Theater No. 10". The Paris Review.
Tennessee Williams
YouTube Video of the Movie Trailer for the Movie "Streetcar Named Desire" (1951)
YouTube Video of the Movie Trailer for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958)
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911– February 25, 1983) was an American playwright. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.
After years of obscurity, at age 33 he became suddenly famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City.This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including:
With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. Increasing alcohol and drug dependence inhibited his creative expression. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Click here for more about Tennessee Williams.
After years of obscurity, at age 33 he became suddenly famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City.This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including:
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1947),
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955),
- and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959).
With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. Increasing alcohol and drug dependence inhibited his creative expression. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Click here for more about Tennessee Williams.
Eugene O'Neill
YouTube of the Movie Trailer for "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962)
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into U.S. drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg.
The drama Long Day's Journey into Night is often numbered on the short list of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (above) and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (below)
O'Neill's plays were among the first to include speeches in American English vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. They struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. Of his very few comedies, only one is well-known (Ah, Wilderness!).
Nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.
Click here for more about Eugene O'Neill.
The drama Long Day's Journey into Night is often numbered on the short list of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (above) and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (below)
O'Neill's plays were among the first to include speeches in American English vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. They struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. Of his very few comedies, only one is well-known (Ah, Wilderness!).
Nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.
Click here for more about Eugene O'Neill.
Arthur Miller
YouTube Video of the Movie Trailer for "Death of a Salesman" (1985)
Pictured below: Arthur Miller with his wife Marilyn Monroe
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist, and a major figure in the twentieth-century American theater.
Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1956). He also wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961).
The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (see previous topics above).
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee; and was married to Marilyn Monroe.
In 1980, Miller received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Prince of Asturias Award and the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2002 and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award.
Click here for more about Arthur Miller.
Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1956). He also wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961).
The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (see previous topics above).
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee; and was married to Marilyn Monroe.
In 1980, Miller received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Prince of Asturias Award and the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2002 and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award.
Click here for more about Arthur Miller.