Last night in Malibu was the fifth of five (only) performances of Neil Simon's play, The Sunshine Boys. Jerry Van Dyke played Willie Clark, the role played on Broadway by Jack Albertson and in the movie by Walter Matthau. Dick Van Dyke played Al Lewis, the role originated on stage by Sam Levene and played in the film by George Burns. It was in a tiny theater on Pacific Coast Highway called the Malibu Stage Company and I believe the five performances were a benefit for that operation.
For those of you interested in how a play gets changed in local regional productions, there were many alterations. You know the scene where Lewis and Clark rehearse their classic doctor sketch in a TV studio before doing it on a big special? Well, in the Van Dyke version, they came out, sang a duet and never quite got around to rehearsing the sketch. There were also a few "in" jokes added. When Dick made his entrance into the apartment, there was a footstool in his way and he did a familiar move to avoid it. Big laugh. Later, the two Van Dykes got to arguing about the sketch they were rehearsing and about the British accent Dick was doing. Jerry told him it was lousy and that he "sounded like Bert in Mary Poppins." Bigger laugh…though I wonder if Mr. Simon would have been amused.
I think he would have liked the 80% of it where they did what he wrote. Jerry had a little trouble remembering some of the dialogue…though some of the ways he dug himself out of lapses were quite funny and very much in character. Dick Van Dyke was not as well suited for his role as his brother was for his but hey, it's Dick Van Dyke. I've seen him perform in person before but I was never sitting (literally) eight feet away from him and able to see how he acted with every muscle in his body up to and including his eyelashes. It's been said that you really can't play The Sunshine Boys if you're not Jewish…and I once saw a production where Brian Keith (in the Clark part) seemed out to prove it. But you can get around it if you're as good a comic actor as the Van Dyke boys are. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed just watching them work.
Part of that was because they're both so good at what they do. Part of that was because of my warm feelings about the two men, Dick especially. I've written elsewhere on this site about that.
I did want to mention two others in the cast because it's really easy to overlook folks in their position when there are Van Dykes on stage. Brent Moon was real good as Willie Clark's nephew. Nancy Valen was quite splendid as the nurse who cares for Willie after he has his heart attack. The nurse as written is black but she made the transition to Hispanic without anything being lost. (Hey, if two brothers from Danville, Illinois can play non-related Jews…)
After the show, some of my friends and I chatted with — and I got a hug from — audience member Dolly Martin, widow of Dick "Laugh-In" Martin. At one point in my life, I wanted very much to be Dick Van Dyke…or maybe Rob Petrie. And about the time I was getting over my crush on Laura Petrie, I got one on Dolly, who was then named Dolly Read and still looks as cute as she did in Playboy in 1966. So last evening, I really felt connected to the person I was back then. Whatever happened to that guy?