The Neil Simon Collection

Neil Simon

Sep 2010 · L.A. Theatre Works · Narrated by Dan Castellaneta, Richard Dreyfuss, and Full Cast

About this audiobook

Ten essential plays by Neil Simon, one of the world’s most celebrated, translated, and widely performed playwrights.

Barefoot in the Park
Newlyweds move into a new apartment with no furniture, the wrong paint, leaking
skylight and wacky neighbors! A classic comedy! Performed by: Norman Aronovic, Laura Linney, J. Fred Shiffman, Judy Simmons and Eric Stoltz.

The Odd Couple
Two legendarily mismatched roommates bring down the house in this classic comedy by America’s most successful playwright. Performed by: Dan Castellaneta, Stanley DeSantis, Steven Hack, Jamie Hanes, Nathan Lane, David Paymer, Linda Purl and Yeardley Smith

Plaza Suite
Neil Simon’s hilarious comedy follows three brief encounters in the same suite at the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City. Performed by: Edward Asner, Michelle Costa, Richard Dreyfuss, Hector Elizondo, Amy Irving, Marsha Mason, Alfred Molina, Kerry Shale, Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Fast-moving dialog with nonstop Simon quips and jokes performed extremely well by two fine actors: who could ask for more? Performed by: Annie Abbott, Lorin Dreyfuss, Richard Dreyfuss, Betty Garrett, Sharon Madden and Marsha Mason.

California Suite
A four part comedy confection as only Neil Simon can write it! Four couples separately inhabit the same Beverly Hills hotel suite, bringing along their problems, anxieties, and comical marital dilemmas. Performed by: Dennis Boutsikaris, Bruce Davison, Marsha Mason and Amy Pietz.

Chapter Two
Comedy and pathos mingle brilliantly in Neil Simon’s portrait of a widowed novelist who fears he’ll never love again. Performed by: David Dukes, Sharon Gless, Gates McFadden and Grant Shaud.

Brighton Beach Memoirs
In Neil Simon’s first installment of his darkly funny semiautobiographical Eugene Trilogy, we meet his family in 1930’s Brooklyn. Performed by: Max Casella, Peter Michael Goetz, Valerie Harper, Alexana Lambros, Anna Sophie Loewenberg, Jonathan
Silverman and Joyce Van Patten.

Biloxi Blues
The second hilarious installment of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy follows a naïve Eugene Jerome through boot camp. Performed by: Justine Bateman, Rob Benedict, Joshua Biton, John Cabrera, Matthew Patrick Davis, Steve Rankin, Josh Radnor, Russell Soder and Darby Stanchfield

Broadway Bound
In the final installment of Neil Simon’s trilogy, Eugene and his brother Stanley pair up to break into the world of comedy writing. Performed by: Caroline Aaron, Dan Castellaneta, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, James Gleason, Alan Mandell, Jonathan Silverman, JoBeth Williams and Scott Wolf.

Lost in Yonkers
Set in Yonkers, New York in 1942, two boys, aged 13 and 16, must spend one year with their austere and demanding grandmother. Performed by: Barbara Bain, Gia Carides, Dan Castellaneta, Ben Diskin, Arye Gross, Roxanne Hart and Kenneth Schmidt.

About the author

Marvin Neil Simon was born in the Bronx, New York on July 4, 1927. He attended New York University as an enlistee in the Army Air Forces Air Reserve training program. He continued his studies at the University of Denver while assigned to a base nearby. After his discharge from the Air Force, he worked as a clerk in publicity at Warner Bros. in New York with his brother Danny. Together they began writing television and radio scripts for comics. They also wrote weekly revues for Camp Tamiment, the summer resort in the Poconos. Simon went on to become a playwright. His first play, Come Blow Your Horn, was written in 1961. His other plays included Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, and The Dinner Party. In 1991, he won a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers. He adapted several of his plays for film. He also wrote original movies including The Out-of-Towners, The Goodbye Girl, and The Heartbreak Kid. He wrote the book for several Broadway musicals including Little Me; Sweet Charity; Promises, Promises; and They're Playing Our Song. He wrote a two-volume autobiography. He died from complications of pneumonia on August 26, 2018 at the age of 91.