Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Written by
  
Neil Simon

Genre
  
Comedy

Playwright
  
Neil Simon

Original language
  
English

First performance
  
1969

Place premiered
  
Eugene O'Neill Theatre

Last of the Red Hot Lovers t0gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcRrNCtx7nATEJKvZK

Characters
  
Barney Cashman Elaine Navazio Jeanette Fisher Bobbi Michele

Date premiered
  
December 28, 1969 (1969-12-28)

Setting
  
An apartment in the East Thirties. December, August and September - late afternoon.

Adaptations
  
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972)

Similar
  
Neil Simon plays, Comedies

Last of the red hot lovers act i scenes


Last of the Red Hot Lovers is a comedy by Neil Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1969.

Contents

M d productions last of the red hot lovers feb 19 mar 1


Production

The play opened on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 28, 1969 and closed on September 4, 1971 after 706 performances and six previews. Directed by Robert Moore, the original cast featured James Coco, Linda Lavin (as Elaine), Doris Roberts (as Jeannette), and Marcia Rodd (as Bobbi). The scenic design was by Oliver Smith, the costumes by Donald Brooks, and the lighting by Peggy Clark.

Later in the run, Dom DeLuise replaced Coco and Cathryn Damon and then Rita Moreno replaced Lavin.

The play, Coco, Lavin, and Moore all were nominated for Tony Awards.

Plot overview

Barney Cashman, a middle-aged, married nebbish wants to join the sexual revolution before it is too late. A gentle soul with no experience in adultery, he fails in each of three seductions:

  • Elaine Navazio, a sexpot who likes cigarettes, whiskey, and other women's husbands;
  • Bobbi Michele, an actress friend who he discovers is madder than a hatter; and
  • Jeannette Fisher, his wife's best friend, a staunch moralist.
  • Adaptations

    Simon adapted his play for a 1972 film directed by Gene Saks. The cast featured Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman (as Elaine), Paula Prentiss (as Bobbi), and Renée Taylor (as Jeanette).

    A Chinese adaptation, starring the husband-wife team of Xu Zheng and Tao Hong (who played all 3 seductresses), was so well received in China that the couple performed the play over 30 times in 2005 and 2006.

    Reception

    Clive Barnes, in his review in The New York Times, wrote: "He is as witty as ever...but he is now controlling that special verbal razzle-dazzle that has at times seemed mechanically chill... There is the dimension of humanity to its humor so that you can love it as well as laugh at it."

    References

    Last of the Red Hot Lovers Wikipedia