About the work
Sonny Boys is the German-language title of Neil Simon's two-act comedy The Sunshine Boys. It premiered on 20 December 1972 at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York, directed by Alan Arkin, with Jack Albertson and Sam Levene as the ageing comedy team. The play was first staged in German in December 1973 in Berlin; the current translation is by Uwe B. Carstensen, an earlier one by Gerty Agoston.
Plot
Willie Clark and Al Lewis spent 43 years on stage as a celebrated vaudeville double act, yet by the end they were barely on speaking terms. Eleven years after Al's retirement, Willie, old and forgetful, is getting by on commercials until his nephew and agent Ben lands them a joint appearance on a television show about the history of comedy. Even the rehearsals of their famous doctor sketch reopen old grievances, Al's jabbing forefinger included, until Willie suffers a heart attack. In the end it emerges that both men will be moving into the same retirement home for actors.
Cultural significance
The Broadway production ran for 538 performances and earned Simon a Tony nomination for Best Play. Simon drew inspiration from real vaudeville teams such as Smith and Dale and Gallagher and Shean. Herbert Ross's 1975 film with Walter Matthau and George Burns, who won an Academy Award for it, made the story known worldwide; in the German-speaking world it has also been adapted several times for television.