We Brighten Winter with Neil Simon “Sunshine”

Willie Clark and Al Lewis were two of the premier stars of Vaudeville.  Traveling the circuit as the team of “Lewis and Clark”, everywhere they played the audiences loved them.  Success was great for them with one exception, Willie and Al did not get along and that animosity grew to the point where they would only speak to each other while on stage during their last year together as a team.

It is 1972 as Neil Simon’s wonderful comedy The Sunshine Boys picks up with them, a full 12 years after the last time “Lewis and Clark” performed.  Ben Silverman has the task of getting Clark, his uncle, to reunite with Lewis one more time.  It seems that CBS wants the team to perform their famous “Doctor” routine for a special they are putting together on the history of comedy.

 Actors Alissa Korson as the Nurse and Don Kuehlhorn as Willie Clark

This is not an easy task.  Willie Clark still holds a lot of resentment towards Al Lewis because it was Lewis who decided to leave show business, forcing Clark into retirement against his will.  Now, Clark has become reclusive in a small room in the Ansonia Hotel where Ben visits him each Wednesday and brings him cigars and the latest issue of Variety.  And Al, he lives with his daughter in New Jersey.

Getting these two to agree to get back together again is just the start of the laughs that The Sunshine Boys delivers.  Things escalate from there once Lewis and Clark find themselves in the same room together for a rehearsal.  Even this is just a prelude to antics that these two pull once the broadcast begins.

Our first production of 2009, The Sunshine Boys is directed by Denni Don Hunting.  In assembling a cast, she has placed Don Kuehlhorn as Willie Clark and Rob Ford as Al Lewis.  Rodney Woodring will be playing Ben Silverman and Karen Haspas is the Registered Nurse.  Filling out the cast is Alissa and Juston Korson as the nurse, Eddie and a patient.

And for those of you who may want a sneak preview, we offer these two short videos from one of our rehearsals.  These are rather large files, so a high-speed internet connection is an absolute must.  Just click on the image below and your browser should open your default media player and play the video in just a few seconds.  And, for more photos from our production of The Sunshine Boys, see the buttons near the bottom of this page.

Ben and Willie.wmv  ( 3.88Mb file size )	Al and Willie.wmv  ( 5.76Mb file size )

The Sunshine Boys will be staged at our own Grand Trunk Theatre at the Historic Railroad Depot in Traverse City.  Performances are scheduled for February 27 & 28, and March 5 thru 8.  Showtime is 8pm except for the closing Sunday matinee that will start at 3pm.

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