Barefoot in the Park

Barefoot in the Park (1963), a comedy by Neil Simon. [Biltmore Theatre, 1,530 perf.] After a glorious six‐day honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel, Corie ( Elizabeth Ashley) and Paul Bratter ( Robert Redford) move into their dilapidated, sixth‐floor walk‐up where their first visitors are Corie's mother, Mrs. Banks ( Mildred Natwick), and their eccentric gourmet lothario neighbor, Victor Velasco ( Kurt Kasznar). Corie unwittingly invites both her mother and Mr. Velasco to dinner, and the foursome end up going to a wild Albanian restaurant. Everyone has a good time except Paul, whom Corie accuses of being so prim and proper that he would prefer to sleep with his tie on. After the couple's first fight, Corie decides she wants a divorce. But when her mother comes in wearing a man's bathrobe after a night with Mr. Velasco, and after Paul has gotten drunk and danced barefoot in the park, Corie realizes she loves Paul and his sane, quiet ways. Henry Hewes observed that the Saint Subber–produced play “was nothing more than a minor quarrel between two young newlyweds spiced with their amusing responses to the sort of physical discomforts New Yorkers find themselves so illogically putting up with.” Yet most other reviewers and the public had no trouble enjoying the refreshing comedy. Director Mike Nichols had fun with inventing any number of comic entrances after the principals had supposedly climbed many stairs and all of the performances were first rate. Coming after the success of Come Blow Your Horn, the play confirmed Neil Simon's mastery of one‐liners, although his gift for genuine comic complications was still to be developed.