Fools (play)
Encyclopedia
Fools is a light-hearted romantic comedy by Neil Simon
, set in the small village of Kulyenchikov, Ukraine
(Russian Territory), during the late 19th century.
The Broadway
production, directed by Mike Nichols
, opened on April 6, 1981 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
. The cast included John Rubinstein
, Harold Gould
, Richard B. Shull
, Florence Stanley
, and Pamela Reed
.
Fools allegedly was written as the result of an agreement Simon made with his wife during their divorce proceedings. She was promised the profits of his next play, so he attempted to write something that never would last on Broadway. Given it closed after forty performances, he succeeded.
With the permission of Simon, Fools was adapted into a 1990 musical
with the title Kulyenchikov. It was produced in San Jose, California
in November of that year. The revised libretto, music, and lyrics were by San Francisco Bay Area
playwright
/composer
Ted Kopulos. In addition to the score of 14 songs, an additional character was created - Alexei, Leon's con-artist uncle, who acted as an inadvertent love interest for Yenchna and demonstrated how even the smartest of con men can be beaten at their own game by the stupidest of villagers.
Leon meets with Doctor Zubritsky and his wife, Lenya, after struggling with the locals (Mishkin the postman, Slovitch the butcher, and Yenchna the vendor). He is introduced to the Zubritsky's daughter, Sophia, and is immediately lovestruck. Alas, she proves to be just as unintelligent as the rest of them, if not more so.
He discovers that the town's idiocy is no accident, that it is a 200-year curse of stupidity cast on them by Vladimir Yousekevitch after his son killed himself because the first Sophia Zubritsky (not the doctor's daughter, but rather an ancestor with the same name) was forbidden to see Vladimir's son by her father, who found out the boy was illiterate, and made to marry another man. If Leon can't educate her within 24 hours of his arrival in Kulyenchikov, he, too, will fall victim to the curse. And the curse can only be broken if he can educate Sophia . . . or if she marries a Yousekevitch.
As well as idiocy, the people of Kulyenchikov are also incapable of loving. Still, even without love, the last of the Yousekevitch line, Count Gregor, proposes to Sophia twice a day. With more motivation than ever, Leon strives to educate Sophia. Try as he might, 9 o'clock rolls around, as announced by the magistrate, and all seems to be lost.
But Leon, being the smart young man that he is, fools everyone into believing the curse has befallen him. Count Gregor adopts him as a son, and Leon and Sophia are set to be wed. At the last minute, Count Gregor admits that the adoption papers are actually divorce papers and the wedding is nearly called off until he 'kindly' offers to marry Sophia.
With yet another trick up his sleeve, Leon asks Mishkin the postman for his urgent letter and announces that his uncle has died and left all his debts to him. He says that that changing their surname couldn't help them escape the debt, and when asked what the surname was, he says "Yousekevitch." Leon and Sophia are wed, and the curse of Kulyenchikov is broken. (The letter really contained a bill from his college, saying that Leon needed to finish paying his debts.)
After the wedding, we see what has befallen all the characters. The Magistrate became a great judge, but fell into corruption and eventually was convicted for fraud. Mishkin wrote a six-hundred page novel on the Curse of Kulyenchikov, only to have it lost in the mail. Slovitch confirmed his greatest fears of being hopelessly stupid, when he bought four butcher shops in a town that only need one and went bankrupt within a month. Snetsky found his sheep, and eventually in time became a great philanthropist. Yenchna went into real estate and now owns seventeen houses in Kulyenchikov, including Count Gregor's mansion. Lenya Zubritsky went into politics (becoming the first female mayor of Kulyenchikov) and now even her husband has to make appointments to see her. Doctor Zubritsky got accepted into a school of medicine and interior design became an esteemed doctor and now works for the Royal Family. Count Gregor renounced his bad ways and became the town monk. Occasionally he goes to the top of the hill to pray for God to throw water upon the village. Leon continues to teach, and Sophia happily bore their child and teaches Leon lessons of life.
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...
, set in the small village of Kulyenchikov, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(Russian Territory), during the late 19th century.
The 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 on April 6, 1981 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 230 West 49th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was built for the Shuberts as part of a theatre-hotel complex named for 19th century tragedian Edwin Forrest...
. The cast included John Rubinstein
John Rubinstein
John Arthur Rubinstein is an American film, Broadway, and television actor, a composer of film and theatre music, and a director in theatre and television.-Early life:...
, Harold Gould
Harold Gould
Harold V. Goldstein , best known by his stage name Harold Gould, was an American actor best known for playing Martin Morgenstern in the 1970s sitcoms Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Miles Webber in The Golden Girls...
, Richard B. Shull
Richard B. Shull
Richard Bruce Shull was an American character actor.-Career:Shull was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Zana Marie , a court stenographer, and Ulysses Homer Shull, a manufacturing executive. Shull attended the University of Iowa and served in the U.S. Army before starting his Broadway career...
, Florence Stanley
Florence Stanley
Florence Stanley was an American actress of stage, film, and television.-Early life and career:Florence Stanley was born as Florence Schwartz in Chicago, the daughter of Hanna and Jack Schwartz. She began a long career on stage, film and TV starting in the 1940s...
, and Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Ruth Powers in various episodes of TV's The Simpsons, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic partner in the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop and as the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho...
.
Fools allegedly was written as the result of an agreement Simon made with his wife during their divorce proceedings. She was promised the profits of his next play, so he attempted to write something that never would last on Broadway. Given it closed after forty performances, he succeeded.
With the permission of Simon, Fools was adapted into a 1990 musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with the title Kulyenchikov. It was produced in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
in November of that year. The revised libretto, music, and lyrics were by San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
/composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Ted Kopulos. In addition to the score of 14 songs, an additional character was created - Alexei, Leon's con-artist uncle, who acted as an inadvertent love interest for Yenchna and demonstrated how even the smartest of con men can be beaten at their own game by the stupidest of villagers.
Synopsis
The story starts with Leon Tolchinsky, an ambitious young schoolteacher, arriving in the village of Kulyenchikov. Upon arrival, Leon encounters a rather 'unintelligent' shepherd by the name of "Something Something Snetsky, the sheep loser." After a confusing and tedious conversation with Snetsky, Leon goes off to find the home of his new employer, Doctor Zubritsky.Leon meets with Doctor Zubritsky and his wife, Lenya, after struggling with the locals (Mishkin the postman, Slovitch the butcher, and Yenchna the vendor). He is introduced to the Zubritsky's daughter, Sophia, and is immediately lovestruck. Alas, she proves to be just as unintelligent as the rest of them, if not more so.
He discovers that the town's idiocy is no accident, that it is a 200-year curse of stupidity cast on them by Vladimir Yousekevitch after his son killed himself because the first Sophia Zubritsky (not the doctor's daughter, but rather an ancestor with the same name) was forbidden to see Vladimir's son by her father, who found out the boy was illiterate, and made to marry another man. If Leon can't educate her within 24 hours of his arrival in Kulyenchikov, he, too, will fall victim to the curse. And the curse can only be broken if he can educate Sophia . . . or if she marries a Yousekevitch.
As well as idiocy, the people of Kulyenchikov are also incapable of loving. Still, even without love, the last of the Yousekevitch line, Count Gregor, proposes to Sophia twice a day. With more motivation than ever, Leon strives to educate Sophia. Try as he might, 9 o'clock rolls around, as announced by the magistrate, and all seems to be lost.
But Leon, being the smart young man that he is, fools everyone into believing the curse has befallen him. Count Gregor adopts him as a son, and Leon and Sophia are set to be wed. At the last minute, Count Gregor admits that the adoption papers are actually divorce papers and the wedding is nearly called off until he 'kindly' offers to marry Sophia.
With yet another trick up his sleeve, Leon asks Mishkin the postman for his urgent letter and announces that his uncle has died and left all his debts to him. He says that that changing their surname couldn't help them escape the debt, and when asked what the surname was, he says "Yousekevitch." Leon and Sophia are wed, and the curse of Kulyenchikov is broken. (The letter really contained a bill from his college, saying that Leon needed to finish paying his debts.)
After the wedding, we see what has befallen all the characters. The Magistrate became a great judge, but fell into corruption and eventually was convicted for fraud. Mishkin wrote a six-hundred page novel on the Curse of Kulyenchikov, only to have it lost in the mail. Slovitch confirmed his greatest fears of being hopelessly stupid, when he bought four butcher shops in a town that only need one and went bankrupt within a month. Snetsky found his sheep, and eventually in time became a great philanthropist. Yenchna went into real estate and now owns seventeen houses in Kulyenchikov, including Count Gregor's mansion. Lenya Zubritsky went into politics (becoming the first female mayor of Kulyenchikov) and now even her husband has to make appointments to see her. Doctor Zubritsky got accepted into a school of medicine and interior design became an esteemed doctor and now works for the Royal Family. Count Gregor renounced his bad ways and became the town monk. Occasionally he goes to the top of the hill to pray for God to throw water upon the village. Leon continues to teach, and Sophia happily bore their child and teaches Leon lessons of life.
Characters
- Leon Steponovitch Tolchinsky
- Sophia Irena Elenya Zubritsky
- Gregor Mikhailovitch Breznofsky Fyodor Yousekevitch (simply referred to as "Count Gregor")
- Doctor Nikolai Zubritsky
- Lenya Zubritsky
- Something Something Snetsky
- Mishkin
- Slovitch
- Yenchna
- The Magistrate
External links
- Fools at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
.