The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon is on stage at the Teatro Agentina, directed by Massimo Popolizio, who directs Umberto Orsini and Franco Branciaroli on stage. The brilliant comedy, written by Simon in 1972 and turned into a highly successful film with the same title three years later, is inspired by the life of a real vaudeville couple, Joe Smith and Charles Dale.

The protagonists, two elderly variety actors who have worked as a couple all their lives, giving life to the famous duo "The Sunshine Boys", only to separate due to irreconcilable misunderstandings, are called to reunite, on the occasion of a television broadcast, for one evening only, in order to celebrate the history of the glorious American variety show. The two old actors therefore meet again both to try to reconcile after the disagreements that have separated them for so many years, and - and above all - in an attempt to revive the comedy number that made them famous. Unfortunately, however, the disagreements of the past immediately resurface, unleashing a mechanism of great irony and profound melancholy. The exchanges of jokes and hilarious situations consequently become a source not only of comedy, but also of a look of sadness and nostalgia for that world of theater and for its protagonists who are ineluctably headed down the path of decline.

Close to the theater of Thomas Beckett (Endgame) or even Anton Čechov (Swan Song), and therefore anything but a piece of pure entertainment, the comedy is a tribute to the world of actors and their miseries, in which the direction of Massimo Popolizio to bring to life with great mastery.

With: Umberto Orsini, Franco Branciaroli, Flavio Francucci and Chiara Stoppa. The show is a production of the Teatro de Gli Incamminati, the Umberto Orsini Company and the Teatro Biondo of Palermo.

Photo credits: Nicolò Feletti