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This memoir, a worthy follow up to his first book, Rewrites, continues
the life story of Neil Simon after his first wife’s death. It is an honest
and humorous look at the life of a successful playwright/screenwriter.
Simon takes the reader through the creation of several of his works. Early
in the book, he describes how he met his future wife, Marsha Mason. The two
worked together on several projects, most notably The Goodbye Girl and
Chapter Two.
Eventually the marriage failed and Simon’s career suffered a slight downturn.
He came back to write the Brighton Beach trilogy, which includes the
play Biloxi Blues.
The book mostly goes in straight chronological order, but does flash back to
his early days on occasion. For example, when discussing Biloxi Blues,
Simon devotes an entire chapter to his stint in the Army Air Force near the
end of WW II.
Simon won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for his play Lost in Yonkers. He
is still writing today, and his latest project, The Dinner Party, recently
played in Washington DC.
If you’re a fan of Neil Simon, both Rewrites and The Play Goes
On are musts. I read The Play Goes On first, and found it very enjoyable.
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