THE DINNER PARTY -- Neil Simon

Samuel French, Inc. -- acting edition
New York -- ©2002 -- 64pp
ISBN: 0-573-62831-9

As the first of six guests arrive for a dinner at a swank restaurant, they begin to wonder what they might have in common, soon wishing that they hadn't accepted the dinner invitation.

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I saw this on Broadway and enjoyed it immensely. Now, as I read through it, considering it for production with a local community theatre group, I realize that I like this more than most of Simon's latest works.

I have felt recently that Neil Simon has either tried too hard to make us laugh (Laughter on the 23rd Floor) or been trying to be too poignant (the biographical 'Brighton Beach' series) for me to really enjoy his recent works. Where is the writer who penned The Odd Couple or The Sunshine Boys or even Barefoot in the Park? The answer is ... he is here.

Before I began to read this, I wondered if perhaps what I had enjoyed about the Broadway performance was seeing John Ritter and Len Cariou and Henry Winkler sharing the stage. But no, what makes this play work is the writing.

The witiness, which covers a characters pain ... classic Simon ... is here. And yet the pain isn't too deeply imbedded, otherwise we'd have trouble really laughing (which has been my problem with the Brighton Beach plays).

If you've liked the earlier Neil Simon works, you will probably like this one, too. Worth reading. Worth seeing. Worth producing.