Gemini is a play by
Albert Innaurato.
Set in the
backyard of a middle class South Philadelphia neighborhood early in
the summer of 1973, the comedy-drama
focuses on the 21st birthday celebration of Harvard
student and
Maria Callas fan Francis
Geminiani. In attendance are his
divorced blue collar
father Fran and Fran's
widowed girlfriend
Lucille, next-door neighbor Bunny Weinberger and her overweight son
Herschel, and Francis' classmates, the wealthy
WASP Hastings
siblings Judith (who seeks romance with Francis) and
Randy (the object of Francis' unexpressed affection), who have
arrived unexpectedly, much to their friend's dismay. All are
dysfunctional to varying degrees, and
the interactions among them provide the play with its comic and
dramatic moments.
Production history
Playwrights Horizons first
staged the play in December 1976 with a cast that included
Jonathan Hadary,
Jon
Polito, and
Sigourney Weaver.
The following March it was mounted by the
Circle Repertory Company with
Hadary (Herschel Weinberger),
Danny
Aiello (Fran),
Carol
Potter (Judith Hastings), and
Robert
Picardo (Francis Geminiani).
Critical response encouraged the producers
to transfer the play to Broadway
.
The Broadway production, with the same cast directed by Peter Mark
Schifter and supervised by
Marshall
W. Mason,
opened on May 21, 1977 at the Little Theatre
and closed on September 6, 1981 after 1,819
performances.
A 1980 screen adaptation, written and directed by Richard Benner,
was entitled
Happy Birthday, Gemini. The cast included
Madeline Kahn,
Rita Moreno,
Alan
Rosenberg,
David Marshall
Grant, and
Sarah Holcomb.
A 1999
off-Broadway Second Stage
Theatre revival closed after 14 performances.
Awards and nominations
- 1977 Off-Broadway
- Anne DiSalvo - performance - winner
- Danny Aiello- performance - winner
- Albert Innaurato - playwrighting - winner
- 1977 Broadway
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
New American Play - nomination
References
- Lefkowitz, David. "Innaurato's Gemini Gets First Major NY Mounting Since
Bway Smash, May 26-June 27",playbill.com, June 16, 1999
External links
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