''Proposals'' is a comedy-drama by
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
, his 30th play. After running in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
in 1997, the play opened on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in 1997.
Productions
''Proposals'' had its world premiere at the
Ahmanson Theatre
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center.
History
The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings and ...
in Los Angeles, followed by a run at the Kennedy Center in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
in October 1997.
The play opened on Broadway at the
Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for the Shubert brothers. The Bro ...
on November 6, 1997
[Brantley, Ben]
"Theater Review. A Lone Woman in the Forest? Is This a Neil Simon Play"
November 7, 1997
and closed on January 11, 1998 after 76 performances and 11 previews.
[Viagas, Robert]
Neil Simon's Proposals To Close Jan. 11"
playbill.com, January 11, 1998 Directed by
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on Broadway productions of ''Wicked'', '' Take Me Out'', and ''Assassins'', having gained notoriety in the 1993 cast of ''Angels in America''.
Early li ...
, the cast included
Kelly Bishop
Carole "Kelly" Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Housema ...
, Suzanne Cryer
Katie Finneran
Katie Finneran (born January 22, 1971) is an American actress best known for her Tony Award-winning performances in the Broadway play ''Noises Off'' in 2002, and the musical '' Promises, Promises'' in 2010. ,
Dick Latessa
Richard Robert Latessa (September 15, 1929 – December 19, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Early life
Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1929. After serving in the Army in maybe 1952, he began performing in Clevela ...
and
L. Scott Caldwell
L. Scott Caldwell (born Laverne Scott; April 17, 1950) is an American actress perhaps best known for her roles as Deputy U.S. Marshall Erin Poole in '' The Fugitive'' (1993) and Rose on the television series ''Lost''.
Early life
Born the mid ...
as Clemma. The sets were by
John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer who has created set designs for more than 115 Broadway shows and has designed for other productions. He won two Tony Awards, for ''Talley's Folly'' (1980) and ''The Nance'' (2013), was nominated for ...
, costumes by
Jane Greenwood
Jane Greenwood (born 30 April 1934) is a British costume designer for the stage, television, film, opera, and dance. Born in Liverpool, England, she works both in England and the United States. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for costu ...
, lighting by
Brian MacDevitt
Brian MacDevitt is a lighting designer and educator. He has worked extensively on Broadway and Off Broadway, as well as touring, Regional theatre, and Industrial productions. He won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for his work on the ...
and incidental music by
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty (born September 18, 1960) is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals ''Ragtime'', whi ...
.
[
''Proposals'' had "one of the shortest runs ever for a Neil Simon play on Broadway. Only ''Fools'' (1981) had a shorter run, with 40 performances."][
]
Plot overview
A nostalgic memory play, ''Proposals'' recalls one idyllic afternoon in the summer of 1953, the last time the Hines family gathers at its retreat in the Poconos.[Flatow, Sheryl.]
"Neil Simon Tells Love Stories in 'Proposals' "
playbill.com, November 18, 1997 Clemma, the family's African-American housekeeper (and the story's narrator), dreads a visit from the husband who deserted her years before. Burt Hines, a recovering workaholic
A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health.
There is no generally accepted ...
convalescing from a second heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
, looks forward to the arrival of the ex-wife he still loves. Burt's daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to Ken, an intense Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
law student, and she yearns for his buddy Ray, an aspiring writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
with whom she had a brief affair. Ray shows up with a striking but dim-witted model on his arm, and a young Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
with a gift for malapropisms
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...
adds a note of hilarity to the gathering.
Reception
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...
, in his review for ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote: "Mr. Simon has been blessed with an unusual facility for zippy dialogue and innately involving, neatly shaped stories, but a rich sense of character has always come less easily to him....With ''Proposals,'' unfortunately, there's little sense that the people on the stage are more than conduits for the jokes and the plot. Still, how could a playwright with more than two dozen Broadway productions in 30-some years not go on automatic pilot from time to time?"[
]
References
External links
Internet Broadway Database listing
Provides character descriptions, audition listings, and other useful show related resources.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proposals
1997 plays
Broadway plays
Plays by Neil Simon