The Sunshine Boys

Synopsis

Thea Sharrock directs Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths as the ageing vaudevillian team Willie Clark and Al Lewis in Neil Simon’s award-wining comedy, The Sunshine Boys.
 
Kings of comedy, Willie Clark and Al Lewis aka The Sunshine Boys haven’t spoken to each other in years. When CBS call for the vaudevillian greats to be re-united for a nostalgic History of Comedy, past grudges resurface as they take centre stage once more. Ageing ailments aside, can this legendary double-act overcome their differences for one last show? Old rivalry and vintage hilarity abound in Neil Simon’s classic comedy of showbiz and friendship.
 
Danny DeVito (Willie Clark), makes his West End stage debut in The Sunshine Boys. He won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy award for his portrayal of Louie De Palma in the US hit comedy Taxi, a role he played for five years. His extensive film credits include Martini in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a role he also played on stage, Terms of Endearment, Romancing the Stone, The Jewel of the Nile, Junior, Twins and Ruthless People. He appeared as the Penguin opposite Michael Keaton’s Batman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Later this year DeVito will voice the title character in Universal Pictures’ animated feature The Lorax, based on the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. As a film director DeVito’s credits include Matilda, The War of the Roses and Hoffa. 
 
Richard Griffiths (Al Lewis) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of Hector in The History Boys at the National Theatre and on Broadway, a role he also played on screen. Griffiths has previously been directed by Thea Sharrock in Equus at the Gielgud Theatre and on Broadway, and Heroes at the Wyndham’s Theatre. His other theatre credits include The Habit of Art for the National Theatre and Rules of the Game and Galileo for the Almeida Theatre. His Royal Shakespeare Company credits include The White Guard, Once in a Lifetime, Henry VIII and Volpone. His recent television credits include Episodes, Ballet Shoes and Bleak House all for the BBC but he is most well known on television for playing D.I. Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky. On film Griffiths played the unforgettable role of Uncle Monty in the British black comedy, Withnail and I. His other film credits include the role of Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hugo, Private Peaceful, Stage Beauty, Sleepy Hollow and The History Boys.

Our Review:

18 May 2012

What a treat, to have Danny DeVito, a folded-in-half version of Richard Griffiths, but much livelier and more puckish, and Griffiths himself, who’s grown even bigger and more bloated than Moby Dick, in Neil Simon’s brilliant 1972 Broadway comedy about two old vaudevillians - “The Sunshine Boys” - forced into a reunion.

These guys, both widowers, loathe each other and have not worked together since a bust-up on the Ed Sullivan show twelve years previously. Willie Clark (DeVito) is living in a dowdy Manhattan residential hotel. Al Lewis (Griffiths) comes up from New Jersey, where he lives with his daughter.

Willie’s agent, and his nephew, Ben Silverman (Adam Levy), has brokered a booking on a CBS special about the history of vaudeville in which the pair will revisit one of their famous sketches.

The second act in Thea Sharrock’s nifty production opens with that sketch, Hildegard Bechtler’s higg...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 23 June 2012:

Neil Simon hasn't ofetn transferred well to this country and in recent years even Broadway seems to have grown tired of one of its own. The Sunshine Boys is a good example of why - it's an ofetn very funny portrait of two estranged vaudeville performers but also seems as dated as their sexist routines which act as the catalyst for their reunion. What made the evening so enjoyable though was a masterclass in New York comedy acting from Danny DeVito and it's extraordinary that this is his first stage venture for many years. Adam Levy is excellent as his long-suffering nephew and even the peerless Richard Griffiths seems happy to provide a foil for DeVito's genius for physical and verbal timing. This is never better displayed than in the superb finale as the two irascible old-timers gradually edge closer together in a scene which, though deliciously funny, also offers a poignant final glimpse of these two old sparring partners. The Sunshine Boys may not have convinced me of Simon's continued relevance but it offers a truly great performance which DeVito seems to be enjoying as much as the audience....

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