''The Ritz'' is a comedic farce by

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...

Rita Moreno Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. With a career spanning eight decades she is known for her roles on stage and screen, and is one of the last remaining stars from t ...

won a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for her performance as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Broadway production, which she and many others of the original cast reprised in a 1976 film version directed by

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

Plot

The farce is set in a

gay bathhouse A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards Gay men, gay and Bisexuality, bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they ...

in Manhattan, where unsuspecting businessman Gaetano Proclo, a heterosexual, has taken refuge from his homicidal brother-in-law Carmine Vespucci, a mobster. Gaetano stumbles across an assortment of oddball characters, including a rabid chubby chaser, go-go boys, a squeaky-voiced detective, and Googie Gomez, a third-rate entertainer with visions of Broadway glory who mistakes him for a famous producer and whom he mistakes for a man in drag. Further complications arise when Gaetano's wife, Vivian, tracks him down and jumps to all the wrong conclusions about his sexual orientation.

Production history

Original Broadway production

McNally was playwright-in-residence at Yale University, and while there, wrote a play titled ''The Tubs'', which was slang for the "baths". The play was presented at

Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stud ...

in 1974. It was chosen to be produced on Broadway, but the title was changed because a play with a similar title ('' Tubstrip'' by

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

) was playing in New York City. The ''Tubs'' title was also a nod to one of the jokes of the play, "an infatuation for overstuffed men by 'chubby chasers.'" ''The Ritz'' premiered on Broadway at the

Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and is named for Longacre Square, the former ...

on January 20, 1975, and closed after 398 performances and 10 previews. Directed by

Robert Drivas Robert Drivas (born Robert Choromokos; November 21, 1935 – June 29, 1986) was an American actor and theatre director. Life and early career Drivas studied at the University of Chicago and the University of Miami with further training at th ...

, the cast included

Jack Weston Jack Weston (born Morris Weinstein; August 21, 1924 – May 3, 1996) was an American actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1976 and a Tony Award in 1981. Career Weston, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, usually played comic roles in fi ...

(Gaetano),

(Googie),

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 20 ...

(Carmine Vespuci), F. Murray Abraham (Chris),

Stephen Collins Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American former actor. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the WB/ CW television series '' 7th Heaven'' from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC ...

(Michael Brick), and

George Dzundza George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is a retired American actor. He is known for his varied work in film and on television, including '' The Deer Hunter'' (1978), '' Skokie'' (1981), '' No Way Out'' (1987), '' The Beast'' (1988), '' Impulse'' ...

(Abe)." 'The Ritz'"
playbillvault.com, accessed April 17, 2014 Moreno won the

and was nominated for a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

for her performance, and the play received a Drama Desk nomination as Outstanding New American Play.

Revivals

The first Broadway revival of ''The Ritz'' opened in previews in May 1983 at Xenon, formerly

Henry Miller's Theatre The Stephen Sondheim Theatre, formerly Henry Miller's Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 124 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Owned by the Durst Organization and managed by the Rou ...

, but closed after a single regular performance on May 2, 1983, and two weeks of previews. The play was directed by Michael Bavar and featured Taylor Reed as Gaetano, Casey Donovan as Brick, and

Holly Woodlawn Holly Woodlawn (October 26, 1946 – December 6, 2015) was an American actress and Warhol superstar who appeared in the films '' Trash'' (1970) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971). She is also known as the Holly in Lou Reed's hit glam rock song " Wal ...

as Googie Gomez, an
Mr. America Tom Terwilliger
as one of the bathhouse patrons A limited-run Broadway revival produced by the

Roundabout Theatre Company The Roundabout Theatre Company is a nonprofit organization, non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fr ...

began previews at

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

on September 15, 2007, officially opening on October 11 and closing on December 9, 2007. Directed by

Joe Mantello Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on stage and screen. He first gained prominence for his Broadway acting debut in the original production of Tony Kushner's two-part epic play ''Angels ...

, the cast included

Rosie Perez Rosa Maria Perez (born September 6, 1964) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came at age 24 with her portrayal of Tina in the film '' Do the Right Thing'' (1989), followed by '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992). Perez's performance in '' Fear ...

as Googie Gomez,

Kevin Chamberlin Seth Kevin Chamberlin (born November 25, 1963) is an American actor and singer who performs under his middle name. He is known for his theatre roles such as Horton in '' Seussical'' and Uncle Fester in ''The Addams Family''. For his theatre work ...

as Gaetano Proclo, and Seth Rudetsky and Ryan Idol as bathhouse patrons. The play had been slightly rewritten. Due to

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, the baths are presented as an "abstract farce machine" and jokes about sexually transmitted diseases are dropped. The music includes a more current disco-style.Brantley, Ben
"Theater Review. 'The Ritz'"
''The New York Times'', October 12, 2007

Critical response

Mel Gussow Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...

, in his review of the 1983 production for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', wrote: "Of the three versions of the show I have seen, at the Yale Repertory Theater (under its original title, ''The Tubs''), on Broadway and at Xenon, this is easily the least amusing and the most overbearing...In the current production, the role oogieis undertaken by Holly Woodlawn, a transvestite actor of Andy Warhol movie fame. He is not bad, but he is not Googie. "

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 t ...

reviewed the 2007 production for ''The New York Times'', writing: "This latest revival of 'The Ritz' is cute, cuddly and often oddly inert...Stripped of the amyl-nitrite-scented clouds of novelty that clung to it 32 years ago, the show is exposed as a friendly, conventional sitcom for the stage. And though it features ace performances by Ms. Perez and by Kevin Chamberlin as a visitor from the planet of the heteros, Joe Mantello's direction rarely revs up to the dizzy velocity that farce demands." Peter Wolfe noted that, with ''The Ritz'', McNally's "command of stagecraft represents the advance he had in mind when he called his mature plays operas in contrast to the aria-like ambience of their predecessors."Wolfe, Peter. "Four. Caldron of Deceit", ''The Theater of Terrence McNally: A Critical Study'', McFarland, 2013, , p. 84

1976 film version

Weston, Moreno, Stiller, and Abraham reprised their stage roles in the 1976 film version directed by

. Also in the cast were

Kaye Ballard Kaye Ballard (November 20, 1925 – January 21, 2019) was an American actress, comedian, and singer. Early life Ballard was born Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four children born to Italian immigrant parents, Lena (née Nac ...

and

Treat Williams Richard Treat Williams Jr. (December 1, 1951 – June 12, 2025) was an American actor, whose career on stage and in film and television spanned five decades. He received many accolades for his work, including nominations for three Golden Globe ...

. The film, Weston, and Moreno received

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

nominations in the comedy category.

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database listing, all productions
*

at bathhouseaddict.com. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritz, The 1975 plays Broadway plays Plays by Terrence McNally LGBTQ-related plays