''Romantic Comedy'' is a play by
Bernard Slade, author of ''
Same Time, Next Year''.
Overview
Phoebe Craddock and Jason Carmichael are playwrights who meet and decide to collaborate just as he is getting married. Their relationship produces first a failure and then a string of successes. Their repartée remains sharp and witty as their unrequited interest in each other gathers energy over a nine-year period, until some resolution finally is in sight.
[''Romantic Comedy'']
samuelfrench.com, retrieved September 19,2017
Production
The play opened on
Broadway on November 8, 1979 after 11 previews at the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 243 West 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1928, it ...
. It closed on October 18, 1980 after 396 performances. The play was directed by
Joseph Hardy, with scenery by Douglas W. Schmidt, costumes by
Jane Greenwood, and lighting by
Tharon Musser. The original cast included
Mia Farrow (Phoebe Craddock),
Anthony Perkins (Jason Carmichael),
Carole Cook (Blanche Dailey),
Holly Palance (Allison St. James),
Greg Mullavey (Leo Janowitz), and
Deborah May (Kate Mallory).
Keith Baxter (Jason Carmichael),
Karen Valentine (Phoebe Craddock) and
Benay Venuta (Blanche Dailey) were replacements later.
In 1983, Slade adapted his play for a
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
directed by
Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian television and film director with over 33 films to his credit during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By the late ...
. The film starred
Dudley Moore and
Mary Steenburgen. Earlier that year, the play opened in London at the
Apollo Theatre with
Tom Conti and
Pauline Collins in the leads.
Reception
The ''New York Post'' wrote: "A darling of a play...zesty entertainment of cool wit and warm sentiment."
[
John Simon, reviewing for the '']New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.
Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
'', wrote: " ''Romantic Comedy'' almost makes up in comedy what it lacks in romance... Mia Farrow is quite good... Anthony Perkins desperately lacks charisma..."[Simon, John]
"Review"
''New York Magazine'', p. 90, November 26, 1979
References
* ''The Best Plays of 1979-1980'' (1980), New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, Inc.,
Notes
External links
*
1979 plays
Plays by Bernard Slade
Broadway plays
American plays adapted into films
Romantic comedy
{{1970s-play-stub