COMMENTARY : ‘Jake’s Women’--a Play That Just Didn’t Work Out

Someone once said that being a successful writer often meansmaking money off the worst moments in your life.

It didn’t work this time for Neil Simon.

“Jake’s Women,” which closed Sunday at the Old Globe Theatre, is the latest in Simon’s series of semi-autobiographical works. The play chronicles the woes of a writer whose marriage is failing, in part because of his reluctance to psychologically let go of his deceased first wife. (Simon’s first wife died, leaving two daughters, and his second marriage--to actress Marsha Mason--ended in divorce. He has since married, divorced and married his third wife.)

The show was supposed to be Broadway-bound after the Old Globe run, but Simon pulled the plug in early April--the first of his 24 plays to ever close out of town. About $1 million had been invested in the show and Simon estimated it would lose about $600,000--most of it his.

Simon’s decision left the cast in the unenviable position of performing--for 10 days--a show that not only critics, but even the playwright, had deemed unsuccessful. The actors’ dilemma was evident Sunday afternoon in the show’s second-to-the-last performance.

“The show must go on” seemed to be the order of the day. There was not a hint of unprofessionalism in the cast’s presentation, but the show’s cancellation must have had some effect. Many of the lines fell flat and they were often delivered with an urgency that suggested “let’s get this thing over with.”

Jack O’Brien, who took over as the show’s director less than a week before opening night, said the final evening performance was much better--perhaps prompted by the catharsis of closing a show that has been so wrapped in emotion. O’Brien said he wrote Simon a letter Monday telling him that the cast members did themselves proud and predicted we have not seen the last of this script.

As much as these proceedings have been covered, there are still a couple of leftover topics of conversation.

When casting for the show was announced, it seemed odd that Peter Coyote was playing the lead. Perhaps he’s a victim of stereotyping, but the role seemed incongruous for both Coyote the person and the actor. What was Coyote--the intellectual, the Zen practitioner, the artiste --doing in a Neil Simon play? Probably the same thing he was doing in the popular films “E.T.” and “Outrageous Fortune”--trying to change his reputation from an “actor’s actor” to a “mass audience’s actor.”

Nothing wrong with that kind of ambition, but maybe Coyote--who showed flashes of a nice comic touch in “Jake’s Women”--is doomed to a career of solid, serious performances and the respect of his peers. It could be worse for Coyote, who told The Times that actors are just migrant workers, going from job to job. He could be a real migrant worker.

There was more incongruity in the theater Sunday afternoon. Here was a play that the author has said was below his standards, yet the sold-out audience seemed entertained. There wasn’t raucous, knee-slapping laughter, and there was an uneasy quiet in the show’s draggy moments, but the customers seemed generally satisfied.

The Old Globe’s management must be generally satisfied as well. Oh, there must be some disappointment that the show is not going to Broadway, but empty seats were scarce during the entire run on the Globe’s main stage. Thomas Hall, Globe managing director, said the show’s box office revenues exceeded any other show in the winter season by 10% to 20%.

When a theater is sowing seeds of both art and entertainment, it doesn’t hurt to have a cash cow walk through the field.