Theatre: The Dinner Party (July 2001)



The Dinner Party is Neil Simon’s 31 play, one act about marriage and divorce. It opened in 2000 and closed in 2001 after 364 performances. Near the end of the run, actors John Ritter and Henry Winkler were replaced by Jon Lovitz and Larry Miller. Fuller received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Synopsis

Simon, himself married five times, mines his own experience to create the thematic material for this unique farce-turned-dramedy. Six unknowing guests have RSVP'd to a dinner at a private dining room in a first-rate restaurant in Paris. Arriving in a staggered manner, they eventually realize they are three divorced couples--providing the makings of the farce Simon intends the first half of the play to be. Five of them were mistaken into thinking a man they hold in high regard (who happens to be the divorce lawyer) is hosting the party, but he never shows up, and appearances prove to be deceiving. Claude Pichon and Albert Donay are the first to arrive, and Claude asks what the party is for, but Albert does not know either. As the three male guests arrive first and the female guests later, it only gradually unfolds that they are three divorced couples and that somebody has designs for them to be together. After the shock wears off, the characters inevitably begin to analyze and emotionally process their past marriages, and the play ends on a hopeful note. The play has an upbeat ending and a positive spin on breakups and the meaning of relationships.




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