the sunshine boys neil simon artist note: Ted Dykstra Eric Peterson and Kenneth Welsh. The Sunshine Boys. At David French’s funeral, a year and a half ago, these two gents read, together, an excerpt from what David had been working on at the time of his death: a play he had been writing with them specifically in mind. Laughter shook the church to its foundation as they gave us a scene in which two old actors who haven’t seen each other for a time go over their litany of complaints about the business, as well as their failing bodies and minds. I couldn’t help it – I thought of this play. So did Albert Schultz. And so the idea was born. My instinct was that Eric’s “give-me-two-hours-and-I-will-in-alphabetical-order-tellyou-what’s-wrong-with-not-only-the-theatre-but-the-world-itself” energy, and Kenny’s “I-don’t-know-that-I-am-good-enough-to-do-this-and-I’ll-probably-be-terrible-but-Iso-far-have-been-nothing-short-of-pretty-damn-good-in-everything-else” persona were perfect for Willie and Al, the Vaudeville team called The Sunshine Boys. And, I know, in watching them craft this gem in rehearsal – the two completely different approaches, (Eric: It might be this! Or maybe it’s this! How about this? Kenny: If we do it the same twice, I’ll maybe remember what it is we’re doing…) the care, the effort, the craft, the mutual respect, the laughs, the frustrations, the vulnerability, the fear of not living up to all of our expectations of them, and the gradual appearance of an effortlessness that only the finest actors are capable of – I know something that my children can tell you is very rare: I know I was right. My thanks to our incredible creative team, Soulpepper’s always fantastic stage managers, the great crew here, and of course to a supporting cast that only this theatre could deliver to us all. What a pleasure. Enjoy. Laugh, smile, (wistfully sometimes) and leave happier. That’s my hope for you all.
Ted Dykstra, Director of The Sunshine Boys
a message from the artistic director What an honour and a joy it is to have these two giants on our stage together. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a long time!
Albert Schultz, Artistic Director
illustration: brian Rea
the sunshine boys neil simon
u.s.a. 1972
production
cast
Ted Dykstra director
Oliver Dennis patient
Patrick Clark Set & costume designer
Quancetia Hamilton nurse
Louise Guinand Lighting designer
John Jarvis voice
Creighton Doane Composer/Sound Designer
Eric Peterson willie
Marinda de Beer production stage manager
Jordan Pettle ben
Andrea Schurman Assistant Stage Manager
Kenneth Welsh al
Sarah Miller Rehearsal Stage manager
Sarah Wilson nurse
Kat Chin Rehearsal Assistant stage Manager
Tim Ziegler eddie
Diane Pitblado dialect coach Kelly McEvenue alexander coach Corey Agnew Assistant director
production sponsor
There will be one 20 - minute intermission. Approximate running time 2 hours and 5 minutes.
background notes Neil Simon seems fascinated by marriage. He himself has taken five heroic stabs at being a husband: he’s been a widower, a divorced man, he’s even had two marriages to the same woman (and two divorces. The second one stuck.) One of his best-loved and most enduring plays, The Odd Couple, deals with two men who are thrown together after their marriages fall apart. In that play (winningly revived at Soulpepper last season), Oscar and Felix create a kind of quarrelsome yin-yang marital substitute in the vacuum left by the departure of their wives. The Sunshine Boys explores another kind of long-term relationship between men: a professional one. The action revolves around a vaudevillian comedy team known as “Lewis and Clark”. Simon is said to have been inspired by two real-life vaudeville duos, Smith and Dale and Gallagher and Shean. The former began their partnership in 1898 when they were both impoverished teenagers in New York’s Jewish ghetto and it ended only when Dale died in 1971. Lifelong friends, they’re even buried together, along with Dale’s wife Mollie, which surely sets an impossible standard for show business wives: her understanding of her husband’s “other” relationship extended even to the afterlife. Smith and Dale’s longevity and some of their most famous sketches are reflected in their fictional counterparts here. But plays – even comedies – are driven by conflict and the dramatic motor of this story recalls the real-life difficulties of Gallagher and Shean. Like them, Lewis and Clark are professionally successful but personally at odds. For both teams, disagreement leads to dissolution, and their association ends under a cloud of suspicion and accusation. With Gallagher and Shean it happened after twelve years. Lewis and Clark’s final rift comes after nearly forty years together. When the play opens they haven’t spoken in a long time. Willie lives in a hotel room, forgotten and bitter, while Al is happily retired and living with his daughter in New Jersey. When the opportunity comes to reunite for a television comedy special the two men must confront old wounds and reconsider their relationship. Simon, the comic genius, mines the situation for all its worth. But he’s also a great dramatist and hidden in the hilarity are real fears about aging, being left behind, and being relegated to history. Willie’s rage and Al’s stubbornness are two spirited responses to the monumental challenge of life’s third act. Old age isn’t for sissies and neither of these passionate, cantankerous, fiercely individual characters is a sissy. They take on their mistakes and their mortality with everything they have: wit, cunning, bloody-mindedness. We root for them, even as we laugh at their pride, their blindness and their need to be right. In the end, theirs is a very recognizable marriage, made not in heaven but right here on this infuriating, exhilarating earth.
Biography A playwright and screenwriter whose work is among the most regularly performed in the world, Neil Simon is as much a Broadway sensation as a literary giant. Born in The Bronx in 1927, Simon briefly attended New York University before enlisting in the Army Air Force Reserve training program, where he began his writing career in the army newspaper. Simon’s first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, premiered in 1961, but his first major hit, Barefoot in the Park, came three years later. The Odd Couple premiered in 1965, earning Simon his first Tony Award. Premiering at the Broadhurst Theatre, The Sunshine Boys (1972) won both a Writers Guild Award and a Drama Desk Award. Simon currently lives with his wife, Elaine Joyce and holds honorary degrees from Hofstra University and Williams College. Background Notes by Associate Artist Paula Wing.
soulpepper production Jacqueline Robertson-Cull
Kathleen Johnston
wardrobe coordinator
Geoff Hughes
Stefan Dean Lisa Farinaccio
cutter
head of hair & makeup
sewers
Gwendolyn Neelin
Mike Keays
Barbara Nowakowski
Greg Chambers
dresser
carpenter
1st hand
props builder
Tracy Taylor
Duncan Johnstone
Daniela Mazic
Paul Boddum
props buyer
scenic artist
scenic artist
scenic artist
illustration: brian rea
Soulpepper Theatre Company is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (pact), the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (tapa) and Theatre Ontario, and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Scenic Artists and Set Decorators employed by Soulpepper Theatre Company are represented by Local 828 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
Service to investors since 1849
Proud Sponsors of Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Production Of Neil Simon’s
The Sunshine Boys Sponsor since 2000 – www.3macs.com
YOUNG CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS DISTILLERY HISTORIC DISTRICT