Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must be up at an early hour for her arrival. So, let’s just not dip our notes toe in the water, let’s just dive the HELL in, shall we? We shall. Last night, I attended the opening night of London Suite by Neil Simon at the Group Rep. It was supposed to open last April, but we all know why THAT didn’t happen. They lost cast members, got new cast members, and finally, here they are and even masked it was a pleasure to be back indoors in a theater. Everyone did a very nice job of it, but London Suite is not top-notch Simon. It’s four playlets, two in act one, two in act two. In the original production actors played multiple characters, in this production only one character per player. I think London Suite was the first Simon play not to play Broadway – it opened off-Broadway and was not a hit, running less than 170 performances. I think mining the same format three times produces results that are less brilliant each time. I’m not going to dissect the playlets, I’m just going to say that when Mr. Simon is cooking in the playlets there are hilarious lines that are laugh-out-loud funny. There just aren’t enough of them and there are too many dead spots in the writing. But when that Simon rhythm kicks in there is no writer funnier than he is/was. I loved Plaza Suite, which I saw with Dan Dailey and Lee Grant. I liked California Suite much less. And this is the third best of the trilogy. The last playlet is a flat-out farce and fun in its limited way. I’m glad to have finally seen London Suite, but it’s very obvious why it doesn’t get done more, despite its good moments. But he set a VERY high bar for himself in the 1960s – Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite – amazing comedies all with some of the greatest comic dialogue ever written. There were about fifty people in the audience, naturally a very friendly opening night crowd. And afterwards, they had a nice little party outdoors. The food looked good, but I did not partake, oh, no, I did not partake. Prior to that, I’d supped with the Pearls at Dino’s Pizza, the best pizza in LA, period. All in the sauce, which is where so many pizzerias here fail. It tastes like pizza and while I’m sure they have the weird ingredients that people seem to go for these days, I can only have good old-fashioned pizza – cheese or pepperoni or sausage, sometimes mushrooms. We also all shared some salad. I was VERY good and only had two-and-a-half slices and their slices are on the small side.
Yesterday was fine. I got almost ten hours of straight-through sleep, which was great. Once up, I answered e-mails, did stuff on the computer, shaved and showered, and then it was suddenly time to mosey on over to Dino’s and the rest you know because I’m being succinct.
Today, I’ll be up at eight-thirty, then I’ll go have a light breakfast, then visit a used CD and Blu-ray store I like, bringing with me a nice, full box of Blu-rays and DVDs to sell and/or trade for credit. We shall see. Then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then come home, where I can then do nothing at all other than watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be more of the same – I’m pretty sure I made no plans, although maybe I’m forgetting something. I’m hoping there’s nothing planned so I can sleep in and do nothing other than perhaps writing two sets of liner notes. This coming week is pretty busy with meetings and meals and the helper’s mom back after an eight-day vacation and boy will she have a LOT of catching up to do, which she has to do instantly because we should have the last two releases in by the end of the week and she has to have her plate cleared by then.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up at eight-thirty, have a light breakfast, sell or trade stuff, hopefully pick up packages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite plays and films of Neil Simon? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, still marveling at how Neil Simon lands a great laugh line and makes it seem so simple.