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پسران آفتاب

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The sunshine boys: a comedy in two acts.
عنوان: پ‍س‍ران‌ آف‍ت‍اب‌ [نمایشنامه]، ن‍وی‍س‍ن‍ده‌: ن‍ی‍ل‌ س‍ای‍م‍ون‌؛ ت‍رج‍م‍ه‌: آه‍و خ‍ردم‍ن‍د، نشر: ت‍ه‍ران‌، دی‍گ‍ر‏‫، ۱۳۸۲، در ‏‫۱۰۲ ص.‬، ‏‏موضوع: نمایشنامه آمریکایی ‏‫قرن ۲۰م.‏

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

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217 people want to read

About the author

Neil Simon

179 books272 followers
Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 plays and he received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer. He was one of the most reliable hitmakers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. Though primarily a comic writer, some of his plays, particularly the Eugene Trilogy and The Sunshine Boys, reflect on the twentieth century Jewish-American experience.

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5 stars
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145 (36%)
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125 (31%)
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22 (5%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Profile Image for Jessaka.
1,006 reviews224 followers
February 25, 2024
You can't go wrong with a Neil Simon play. You even forget that it is a play and not just an ordinary book or extraordinary book. And his humor lifts the spirits. Or should I say, your spirits. That is Just in case you need them lifted.

2 old geezers get together for 1 last act. Vaudeville at its best. But 1 does not like the other.1 or both of them will end up in an old actor's rest home. I rather think that they should both end up in the same room in the same Rest home.
Profile Image for Noran Miss Pumkin.
463 reviews100 followers
August 28, 2012
My father started me watching films in my single digits, and Walter Matthau was a God among actors to me. If I read it now, I might rate this less, but as a teen-it was great!
Profile Image for Alborz Taheri.
198 reviews28 followers
December 10, 2019
کاملا اعتقاد دارم یک نمایشِ خوب می تونه یک اثرِ متوسط رو تبدیل کنه به یه اثرِ دل نشین و عالی و دل چسب !
یه دوره ایی شبکه چهار هر هفته تله تئاتر می گذاشت ، یکی از این تله تئاتر ها همین اثر آقای سایمون بود . با بازی مهدی هاشمی ، مرحوم احمد آغالو ، مهتاب نصیرپور و ... و چقدر چسبید این نمایش به من و چقدر دوستِش داشتم .
خودِ نمایشنامه به معنی واقعی کلمه "بامزه" است . شاید بتونم بگم بامزه ترین نمایشنامه ایی که تا حالا خوندم ! تازه نمایش هم هی مرور می شد برایِ من تو حینِ خوندنش و اثر برام خنده دار تر و دل چسب تر می شد .
خلاصه که اصن این ویلی و اَل عالیَن !
هم نمایشنامه رو بخونید و هم تله تئاترِش رو ببینید .

( برای ناشرِ ایرانی هم که انقدر طراحی رویِ جلدِ کتاب رو بد انتخاب کرده متاسفم ! )
Profile Image for Arghavan.
319 reviews
February 9, 2018

× به عنوانِ «خوش‌حال‌کننده»ی بعد از دیفرانسیل مصرف شد و موثر هم بود. :)
Profile Image for Frederick.
Author 7 books44 followers
January 24, 2021
This review contains spoilers if you read it closely!
I read the edition published in 1973 by Random House.
THE SUNSHINE BOYS premiered on Broadway in December, 1972. Neil Simon defined comedy of the sixties. Before he began his series of plays set in the thirties and forties, he reflected the times. Although THE SUNSHINE BOYS has its two main characters act out a skit they'd performed in vaudeville decades earlier, it is about their painful reunion as septuagenarians. The world they knew has disappeared. They can't agree on their memories; nor can they focus on the present, as they ignore the blaring TV and dread the muggings and stabbings beyond the window. In short, this is about old age in the present day, the present being, for the author of this play, 1972.
I was twelve when this play was on Broadway. I remember ads for it in THE NEW YORK TIMES. In the years immediately before and after, I was taken to, easily, five different movies based on Neil Simon's plays. All of these were set in Manhattan (with an excursion or two into Los Angeles.) There was THE ODD COUPLE, PLAZA SUITE, THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE, LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS, THE HEARTBREAK KID and, toward the end of the seventies, THE GOODBYE GIRL. If you want to get a sense of how a middle-class New Yorker about forty to fifty years old talked in the mid-century, you can't go wrong reading any Neil Simon play from about 1967 to 1975. Or, see the movies based on these plays. When, around 1980, Simon started investigating the Depression of the 1930s, the plays were still good, but they didn't bear the aesthetic stamp of the "soaring sixties." One movie, from 1970, was written strictly as a movie, and is set largely in Manhattan as a married couple, vacationing there, try to navigate the chaos skyscrapers, speeding taxis and an exploding manhole cover. It ends with a jet plane reaching the heights. (The last line, cut for TV when the networks were first showing it, referred to hijacking.) A Neil Simon work of the late sixties or early seventies essentially embraced the American century. Even THE SUNSHINE BOYS, with one of its main characters being very down-and-out, has background figures who thrive at a TV network. Success is accessible to his characters at this point in his career. As our country's economic divide went into high relief in the eighties, Simon's plays began to deal with the remote past, when a higher percentage of people expected to struggle. If you've ever seen the opening credits to the TV series made of THE ODD COUPLE, you'll see the Affluent Society, as John Kenneth Galbraith called it in hus 1958 book about America's increasing wealth. Those opening credits capture the world Neil Simon wrote about when he was becoming the most recognized playwright of his day.
The first scene of the first act of THE SUNSHINE BOYS is very realistic. The first scene of the second act is less so. It is in the second act's first scene that we see the old vaudevillians doing a dress rehearsal at a television studio. The idea is to show us two things: First: The old comedy team really did use to do professional comedy. Second: It is hopelessly dated. What I don't buy is that the network, in 1972, wouldn't have someone attending to the needs of the team. I think the play would have been better if the Sunshine Boys had been on their game at the TV studio and the power structure itself had done what it tends to do: Pull the rug out from under the heroes of yesteryear. To make myself clearer about this. I think the creative people around the two vaudevillians in the immediate moment of their TV reunion would assure a smooth performance. The suits would be the ones to deal the blow.
I daresay that staging is crucial to making THE SUNSHINE BOYS work. I saw the 1975 movie when it came out. I don't think it captured the effortless humor Simon invested in the script of the play. I've never seen a stage production. Of course, the Random House edition I read has the advantage over the edition Goodreads shows, which is clearly for people planning to perform the play. The Random House edition is meant to be read by people the way a novel is read. Simon's stage instructions in this case are for readers, not actors. The instructions act as narrative. I imagine THE COLLECTED PLAYS OF NEIL SIMON includes the text as presented in the Random House edition. If you're looking just to read the play, look for that one, which is still in print.
360 reviews7 followers
May 4, 2020
I know Neil Simon through the films made of his plays back in the 1960s and ’70s. I saw a lot on TV when I was a teenager (liked them) and in my early twenties (no longer liked them). Simon’s plays are still revived, but I have the sense that they are not quite as popular as they once were. But while reading The Sunshine Boys I found a review of a London production from a few years ago: the reviewer was reasonably enthusiastic and made the point that while Simon had an original training as a gag writer, his plays shouldn’t just be thought of as a collection of jokes: the importance is that the gags come out of the characters or, to put it another way, the characters are built out of the gags. I think this is true and the two central characters in The Sunshine Boys are vivid creations. My doubt is that once they have been drawn in all their cantankerous glory, they don’t really develop. But maybe characters don’t have to develop as long as other aspects of the work are developing. But I don’t think this is happening in The Sunshine Boys. There is a situation and it is repeated. It is often repeated in amusing ways, but I can’t help feeling it is similar to a TV situation comedy. A chunk at the beginning of the second act is taken up with a routine where the two veteran comedians recreate a sketch they used to do on the vaudeville circuit for a TV special: I imagine this creates problems for a modern productions: for an audience in the early 1970s it might have seemed corny, but maybe had a certain nostalgic quality – for most of today’s audience it probably just seems archaic, a humour from a museum. (Although I’ve read that Simon has now written an alternative version...but I haven’t read or seen it so can’t comment.) The Sunshine Boys has some good comic lines and is quite fun if you are in the mood, but it is difficult not to think it will slowly fade away.
513 reviews12 followers
August 18, 2020
A really neatly constructed comedy by Neil Simon – 5M, 2F

Willie Clark is an old superannuated vaudeville actor who, when he is found work by his agent nephew Ben Silverman, can’t remember the lines. Ben, who looks in on Willie every week on a Wednesday, has, however, got a big proposal for his uncle. Radio wants to make a programme reviewing great theatrical performances, and they want to include Clark and Lewis’ time-honoured Doctor sketch.

But there’s a snag: Willie hates his former partner, Al Lewis, because he used to prod him with a bony finger and spit over him when he pronounced his ‘T’s. And because one night he just walked out of the act and left Willie high and dry.

And the play proceeds from there.

It is one of those plays that needs three main characters who can play it very fast: it’s American wise-guy wise-cracking stuff. I don’t mind that, but I wonder if – and maybe this is a dramatic strength – I’d get hugely frustrated by a really ornery Willie. Frankly, Ben does several times, and maybe he represents the audience in this respect and relieves their frustration: he tries to get his uncle to shut up, listen and see reason. However, Willie’s self-destructive cantankerousness and ancient resentment against Al, who is a much more conciliatory figure, is at once understandable in an old man desperately missing the limelight. But it is also deeply irritating.

Although I have that reservation, I nevertheless think the play is good entertainment and it grows more touchingly tender towards the end. It offers a sympathetic portrait of old troupers fading away with as much rage as they can summon against the coming of the dark.
Profile Image for Kat.
2,370 reviews117 followers
April 24, 2019
Basic Plot: Two old vaudeville partners attempt a reunion for a TV special.

There are a lot of interesting moments in this, and I like the concept. These characters have a history that we see play out in front of us on stage. They worked together for decades, but never really learned to communicate with or understand each other in a positive way. It plays on old tropes and stereotypes. Some of it is cringe-y, but purposefully so. The antics of a vaudeville act back in the day would not be acceptable in the here and now, even when the "here and now" of the play is 1973. The banter between the main characters would be a fun thing to see/hear if done well. It honestly reminds me of Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy in Coming to America when they do themselves up as the two older Jewish men, which is an odd comparison, but is exactly what I see and hear in my head.
Profile Image for Neil.
Author 2 books52 followers
October 30, 2024
Simon is at the top of his game in this comedy about an aging pair of comics from the golden age of Borscht-belt comedy. They were hugely popular in their day, but also hugely dysfunctional, and now in their old age, given a chance to reunite on a television special and rejuvenate their careers, they can't stop trying to settle the old grudge. This is very funny unless you're the type who can't take a heavy dose of bittersweet.
Profile Image for Audrey.
783 reviews16 followers
July 31, 2025
I’ve wanted to read this play since Judd Hirsch and Danny Devito were in a production together several years ago. I kind of forgot about it until recently when I was scrolling through my TBR. I laughed out loud at a couple of lines, but I think reading it like a book takes away a lot of the nuance that’s meant to be there. I didn’t quite grasp the point of the play. I’d still be curious to see a production sometime.
Profile Image for Krisz.
Author 23 books36 followers
July 8, 2018
Nehéz értékelni ezt a szöveget – kihívásra olvastam el, de annyiszor láttam már színházban/közvetítésben, hogy pontosan tudtam, miről szól…
Nagyon jó látképet ad az öregedésről, a szemellenzőkről, a családi szeretetről, a partnerségről meg egy csomó minden másról, aki még nem látta/olvasta, annak ez egy jó kis olvasmány. (Én most untam.)
Profile Image for John Dishwasher John Dishwasher.
Author 3 books53 followers
August 16, 2025
Simon gropes toward the logical extreme of the curmudgeon trope here. He gives us a portrait of a man who will not accept that his prime has passed, and who is bitter that his prime has passed. Ungracefully, he attacks everyone around him. This would be exasperating without the humor. Probably it works onstage since unapologetic extremes make for engaging theater.

114 reviews
January 26, 2024
Neil Simon is a comedic master. His wit, his timing, his goofiness make him the quintessential playwright. While he is known for classics as the ODD COUPLE and BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, there really isn't a dud in the bunch. SUNSHINE BOYS fires on all cylinders. It's just a great, funny play.
Profile Image for Rolf.
4,026 reviews14 followers
February 23, 2024
This is exactly what I want from a Neil Simon play--nostalgia for a certain age of show business that is also fun of fun, clever dialogue. I bet Amy Sherman-Palladino grew up on Neil Simon plays, because this reminded me so much of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Profile Image for Jackson Pavlik.
122 reviews
October 8, 2024
Wonderful to finally read this play! Certainly my favorite of the Neil Simon plays I’ve seen/read. I loved the conceit of the play, and the two lead characters of Lewis & Clark were wonderful to spend time with.
Profile Image for Misti.
218 reviews
October 12, 2017
I love Neil Simon normally, but this fell a bit flat for me.
Profile Image for Katie.
38 reviews58 followers
Read
July 23, 2019
This was good it kept me chuckling throughout the play. Can't wait to read more of Neil Simon's work.
849 reviews2 followers
May 10, 2020
It was an okay play... a little dated at this point but there were some funny moments.
Profile Image for Dan Blackley.
1,200 reviews9 followers
May 27, 2020
This one I did not like. It was a success when it was done, but I think that the humor has died out of the story and it is depressing.
Profile Image for Lyle.
79 reviews3 followers
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March 4, 2022
Fantastic. A funny, emotional and very real comedy about old actors. I also appreciated the great (though expectedly interrupted) Vaudevillian scene included.
Profile Image for Heather.
265 reviews1 follower
January 18, 2024
It's pretty funny in a Grumpy Old Men sort of way. I enjoyed the vintage Jewish New Yorker humor the most.
Profile Image for Juliette II.
185 reviews1 follower
August 28, 2024
Cute show. Not for me at this stage but a heart-warming yet funny play. Very good for companies with an older clientele. 5m/2f

Essentially one set but multiple set pieces.
Profile Image for Neil Schleifer.
120 reviews32 followers
September 19, 2017
Human relationships are complex -- competitive, sentimental, frustrating and, as Neil Simon sees them, very, very funny. The comedy duo once known as The Sunshine Boys are a paradox -- a pair of aging vaudeville comics whose relationship over the course of some fifty years, is anything but sunny. Facing the challenges of growing old and becoming forgotten, the pair grasp at the chance to be in the spotlight one last time with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But can they overcome the long-held grudge of their bitter break-up long enough to make America laugh again?

Simon, a master of both comedy and pathos, examines the complimentary natures of the men at the center of this story: one a bitter curmudgeon who insists on the fiction that he is both independent and still in-demand as a performer, and the other having settled into the twilight of retirement in the purgatory of New Jersey. Simon looks at the psychology of comedy, at the heartbreaking nature of aging, and at the yin-and-yang of two old friends who seem to have nothing...and everything in common.

Playwright Simon provides neat character sketches of the pair at the center of this story, surrounding them with a collection of neat supporting characters like a neurotic nephew and a non-nonsense nurse. He gives us a glimpse of the "old days" by showing us a recreation of the old skit, while showing us the comedy that real life often unintentionally throws our way. Like many of the best of Simon's comedies, he will get you to laugh til you cry and cry til you laugh.
310 reviews
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October 7, 2014
The Sunshine Boys
June 19 - June 29, 2014

by Neil Simon
Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre
Buy Tickets Online

40 years ago Lewis and Clark were the biggest names lighting up the vaudeville stages. Now they will return to take center stage on television in a CBS special on the history of comedy. The only problem is they haven’t spoken in years.

Jerry Adler, last seen on CRT’s stage in the smash hit comedy I’m Connecticut,returns as Willie Clark.Richard Kline, of television’sThree’s Company makes his CRT debut as Al Lewis. Neil Simon’s writing and sharp one-liners provide non-stop laughs and a nostalgic glimpse of life on and off the stage. The Sunshine Boyscaptures the fading days of vaudeville, and provides a hysterical road map to the comedy of today.
Profile Image for Mike.
Author 8 books46 followers
September 11, 2015
I read this play in preparation for playing one of the two main roles. It's got some wonderful comedy between the old guys, and the farce scene, though dated and chauvinistic, still works pretty well. But it's overlong, and a lot of the first scene could be chopped down. The nephew acts as the old character's feed, or presents just exposition. There are also some curious casting issues: several of the actors barely appear for more than a few minutes, and even the nurse in the last act has only about ten minutes on stage. The economics of the modern theatre just wouldn't allow this kind of casting! LOL
Profile Image for Justin Levine.
48 reviews9 followers
February 12, 2013
The alternate title could have been "Two Jews Arguing"; which in turn constitutes about 98% of all show business...a very entertaining play, and a cynical but well-meaning love letter to the great vaudeville duos - particularly Weber and Fields, who are said to have served as the inspiration for the play.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews

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