This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park (film)

Barefoot in the Park (film)

Barefoot in the Park is a 1967 American comedy film.Based on Neil Simon's 1963 play of the same title, it focuses on newlyweds Corie and Paul Bratter and their adventures living in a minuscule sixth floor walk-up apartment in a Greenwich Village brownstone...

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Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon

Neil Simon

Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...

. The original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production, directed by Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...

, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley

Elizabeth Ashley

Elizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...

 (Corie), Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

 (Paul), Mildred Natwick

Mildred Natwick

Mildred Natwick was an American stage and film actress.- Early life :A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born to Joseph and Mildred Marion Dawes Natwick. She graduated from the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore...

 (Mrs. Banks), and Kurt Kasznar

Kurt Kasznar

-Early life:Kasznar was born in Vienna, Austria as Kurt Servischer. His father left when Kurt was very young, his mother married a Hungarian restaurateur named Ferdinand Kasznar, and Kurt assumed his surname. He emigrated to the United States in the mid-1930s for The Eternal Road in which he...

 (Victor Velasco). The play was nominated for three 1964 Tony Awards, and Mike Nichols won the trophy for Best Director (Dramatic). The show ran for 1530 performances, closing on June 25, 1967, making it Neil Simon's longest-running hit, and the tenth longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history.

A New York revival production of Barefoot in the Park ran for 109 performances, February 16, 2006, through May 21, 2006, with a cast led by Amanda Peet

Amanda Peet

Amanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...

 (Corie), Patrick Wilson

Patrick Wilson (actor)

Patrick Joseph Wilson is an American actor and singer. Wilson has spent years singing lead roles in major Broadway musicals, beginning in 1996. In 2003, he appeared in the HBO mini-series Angels in America...

 (Paul), Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.-Personal life:...

 (Mrs. Banks), and Tony Roberts

Tony Roberts (actor)

David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:...

 (Victor). The revival was directed by Scott Elliott.

Characters

• Corie Bratter
• Mrs. Ethel Banks (Corie's mother)
• Victor Velasco
• Paul Bratter
• Telephone Repairman
• Delivery Man

Act Summaries

Place: Top-floor Apartment in a Brownstone on East Forty-eight Street, New York City

Act I: About 5:30 on a cold February Afternoon

Act II:

Scene 1: Four days later, about 7:00 PM

Scene 2: Later that night, about 2:00 AM

Act III The following day, about 5:00 PM

Adaptations

Simon adapted his play for a 1967 feature film

Barefoot in the Park (film)

Barefoot in the Park is a 1967 American comedy film.Based on Neil Simon's 1963 play of the same title, it focuses on newlyweds Corie and Paul Bratter and their adventures living in a minuscule sixth floor walk-up apartment in a Greenwich Village brownstone...

, starring Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

 and Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

, directed by Gene Saks

Gene Saks

Gene Saks is an American stage and film director.-Life and career:Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix and Morris J. Saks...

.

In September 1970, ABC launched a television series based on the play. Barefoot in the Park was one of two television series based on Neil Simon plays to debut on the network that month, the other being The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple (TV series)

The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....

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A 1980 HBO

Home Box Office

HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...

 telecast starred Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas (actor)

Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...

 as Paul, Bess Armstrong

Bess Armstrong

Elizabeth Key "Bess" Armstrong is an American film and television actress.-Life and career:Armstrong was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Louise Allen , who taught at Bryn Mawr, and Alexander Armstrong, an English teacher at the Gilman School...

 as Corie, Barbara Barrie

Barbara Barrie

Barbara Barrie is an American actress and author of children's books.-Personal life:Barrie was born as Barbara Ann Berman in Chicago, Illinois, of Jewish heritage, the daughter of Frances Rose and Louis Berman. She was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. She graduated from University of Texas,...

 as Mrs. Banks, and Hans Conreid as Velasco.