The Independent
The younger of Cedar City’s summer theatre festivals is boldly growing and will celebrate its thirteenth season of laughter this coming July and August. The Neil Simon Festival will present four classic comedies—including a musical—which will run in repertory from July 8 through Aug. 8 at the Heritage Center Theater.
Returning for his fourth season with the company is television and screen star Clarence Gilyard, best known for his work as Jimmy Trivette on “Walker, Texas Ranger,” Conrad McMasters on “Matlock,” Theo—the terrorist computer expert—in “Die Hard,” and Marcus ‘Sundown’ Williams in “Top Gun.” This season, Gilyard will be directing “The Foreigner” and starring alongside festival founder Richard Bugg in “I’m Not Rappaport.”
The Neil Simon Festival is dedicated to honoring and preserving the works of Neil Simon and his contemporaries. The 2015 summer season will open with a hysterical comedy that has remained extremely popular around the world since its first performance in 1984. “The Foreigner,” by Larry Shue, is a story of misunderstandings, hidden identities, prejudice, compassion, and lots of laughs set in the Deep South. “Foreigner” will come to Cedar City already polished as it will first open in early June at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City.
Neil Simon and Marvin Hamlisch teamed up to create the second offering: the delightful ‘70s musical, “They’re Playing Our Song,” a funny, romantic show about an established composer and his relationship with an aspiring lyricist. “Our Song” will also be playing at Park City’s Egyptian Theatre following its run in Cedar City.
Third on the boards is Larry’s Shue’s “I’m Not Rappaport,” the story of two old men, one white and one black, who attempt to solve the world’s social problems and explore the power, potency, and great worth of the aged while sitting on a bench in Central Park with hilarious and touching results.
Rounding out the season is Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two,” a semi-autobiographical play about Neil Simon’s second marriage. Following the death of Simon’s first wife, he met a young actress, Marsha Mason, who at the time was starring in one of Simon’s new plays. They hit it off. “Chapter Two” is based on the courtship and the early days of the resulting marriage. The New York Post called it “lovely, whimsical, and touching, and always funny.”
The festival will continue to offer playwrights a venue at which to have their new works evaluated. The Neil Simon Festival New Play Program selects a winner from the 75 to 100 entries from around the world each year to be given a staged reading at the summer festival. The playwright spends a week with the actors and director developing the show and getting audience feedback.
The local comedy improvisational troupe, Off the Cuff, will also perform at the festival again this season.
In addition to the returning celebrity actors, audiences will recognize many other veterans of the Neil Simon Festival stage, such as local favorites Richard Hill, Chrystine Potter Hyatt, Alex Allred, and Nate Smith. New to the company this year are Henry Ballestros, Alex Pizzo, Amber James, Keaton Johns, Melissa Neild, and Tatem Trotter.
The Neil Simon Festival runs July 8 through Aug. 8 at the Heritage Center Theater in Cedar City. Ticket information and show times can be found on the website at www.simonfest.org or by calling (435) 267-0194 or (866) 35-SIMON.
