The House of Blue Leaves - Hardcover

Guare, John

3.81

2,029 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670380180 ISBN 13: 9780670380183

Publisher: Viking, 1972

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Farce

Characters: 4 male, 6 female

Interior Set

Artie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zoo-keeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York where he lives with his wife, Bananas. Who is. Much to the chagrin of Artie's downstairs mistress, Bunny Flingus who'll sleep with him anytime but refuses to cook until they are married. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie's son Ronny goes AWOL from Fort Dix stowing a home made-bomb intended to blow up the Pope in Yankee Stadium. Also arriving are Artie's old school chum, now a successful Hollywood producer, Billy Einhorn with starlet girlfriend in tow, who holds the key to Artie's dreams of getting out of Queens and away from the life he so despises. But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives.

Winner of the 1971 Critics Award and the Obie Award as Best American Play.

"A brilliant play...beautifully fashioned...Wacky and sometimes sad [with]... combined hilarity, poignancy, outrageous stage aside and tragedy." -The New York Daily News

"Enchantingly zany and original farce." -The New York Times

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From the Inside Flap:

John Guare poignant Obie Award-winning comedy unfolds in New York City on the day the Pope is expected to visit. Hearts are palpitating in the sleepy borough of Queens, but not entirely on account of His Holiness. Bunny Flingus, a femme-fatale from Flushing (or thereabouts) is stirring things up in the quiet, unfulfilled life of aspiring songwriter Artie Shaughnessy. Artie longs to leave his unhappy marriage, elope with Bunny, and write a hit song that will top the charts.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Mary Teresa Fortuna, Sharon Gless, Deb Gottesman, Christopher Lane, Ron Leibman, Cam Magee, Jennifer Mendenhall, Jessica Walter and Michael Willis.

About the Author:

John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation won the 1990 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, as well as the Hull Warriner Award and the Obie. The House of Blue Leaves won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play of 1971 and received four Tony Awards in its revival at Lincoln Center in 1986. His screen play for Louis Malle's Atlantic City won the New York, Los Angeles, and National Film Critics Circle awards, as well as an Oscar nomination. Mr. Guare, a longtime council member of the Dramatists Guild, was elected in 1989 to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York.

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