Woody Allen's first play Don't Drink The Water, starred the great Lou Jacobi and
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| 1966: Lou Jacobi, Vivian Vance and author Woody Allen, before Vance was fired. |
Don't Drink The Water would be revived often after it's successful Broadway run with various revolving touring company casts over the next decade. Jackie Gleason (coming off Skidoo), and Estelle Parsons would star in the awful 1969 film version, directed by Howard Morris, which Woody Allen would disavow.
The play takes place inside an American embassy behind the iron curtain. Three tourists, an American caterer named Walter Hollander and his wife and daughter rush into the embassy just ahead of the police who suspect them of spying via their innocent picture-taking. The comedy hijinx ensues from there, including the son of the (missing), ambassador falling in love with the caterer's daughter. Don't Drink The Water received overall positive reviews and would run for 598 performances at three different Broadway theaters.
(thanks to John Wendler)
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the original 1966 poster when the show was announced out of town with Vivian Vance       (David Merrick produced), hit shows          
Sam Levene, Selma Diamond...
 
Sam Levene, Gloria Bleezarde
 
Michael Vale
Hans Conried...
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Great stuff, but you left out Woody's 1994 made-for-TV film version, with Woody and Julie Kavner in the leads, and Michael J. Fox, Mayim Bialik, Dom DeLuise, and Edward Herrmann in the supporting cast. It's better than the 1969 version, but it's still not that great -- the material hasn't worn well with time.
ReplyDeleteadded (begrudgingly)
ReplyDelete"No, we're suing them for low resistance to tainted meat!" -- still one of my favorite lines. If it's my time machine we're going to see Hans Conried. I guess Eddie Bracken makes it into all of these.
ReplyDeleteWhy did Woody fire Vivien Vance?
ReplyDelete