Neil Simon's 1972 chestnut, The Sunshine Boys,opened a three-week run at Contemporary Theater of Dallas on September 20, 2013. Garnering Tonys for Simon for best play and Alan Arkin for best direction, the play revolves around two aging vaudevillians, Al Lewis (Don Alan Croll) and Willie Clark (R. Bruce Elliott) whose top-billed act of Lewis and Clark, The Sunshine Boys, wowed audiences for 43 years. The partners split acrimoniously when Lewis retired, leaving Clark adrift without a partner or, as Clark later tells Lewis bitterly, "When you retired, you retired me too."
Ben Silverman (Ben Bryant), Clark's nephew and also his agent, has been approached by CBS to coax the recalcitrant pair out of retirement to be part of a TV special on the Golden Age of Comedy. The warring partners haven't spoken to each other in 11 years. With his reputation as an agent at stake, Silverman has to exercise his ingenuity in getting Lewis and Cark back together. His machinations to this end generate two hours of laughter as only an early Neil Simon can dish up.
Elliott has delighted local audiences for over 40 years and continues this tradition as the irascible Willie Clark. He agrees reluctantly to receive Lewis in his dingy one-room hotel flat. Lewis, also a reluctant participant, arrives, and the fireworks begin in a classic game of one-upmanship. Elliott turns in a stellar performance as the bitter Clark as he parries with Croll for supremacy.
Croll, one of the most chameleon-like actors in Dallas, morphed from the flamboyant producer/manager of the starring actress in the recent Theatre Three production of So Help Me, God! to a creaky and bent old man, barely able to shuffle across the stage, in The Sunshine Boys. What's more, he accomplished this feat by entering rehearsals as a replacement one week before the show's opening.
Bryant hits all the right notes as Clark's frustrated and determined nephew/agent, mining every trick in his repertoire to get Lewis and Clark together again. The play reaches its zenith as they rehearse their Doctor Sketch with their classic "Enter-Come In" shtick.
The Sunshine Boys has been beset by tragedy on both sides of the pond for the past year. London's West End production, starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths, opened a limited 12-week run to glowing reviews and was scheduled to transfer to Los Angeles when Griffiths died, delaying the opening. Judd Hirsch stepped in as Al Lewis, and the play eventually opened at the Ahmanson on September 24, 2013. Originally, CTD’s production was scheduled to star venerable local actor Jerry Russell as Willie Clark. Before rehearsals began, Russell was hospitalized, and Elliott stepped into the role of Willie. Russell died, and rehearsals proceeded. With just one week until opening, Croll was called to step into the role of Al Lewis.
Despite its shaky beginnings, CTD’s production is sure-fire, box-office boffo, and in true theater tradition, the show went on as scheduled.
