The Boys Next Door

Actually, this show had an Off-Broadway run. However, that takes nothing away from this play. The "boys" are seen through the eyes of Jack, the social worker assigned to them. He's quickly burning out and needs to move on with his own life. As he says, "Lucien will always be Lucien. Norman will always be Norman. And Arnold will always be Arnold." The play is full of excellent moments for the actors to make us all laugh, cry, and think. It works much better on stage than the Hallmark movie from a few years back. The script is a real machine that never panders to the characters, nor makes fun of them. I was in a benefit performance for a local mentally handicapped charity. Afterwards, I was chatting with the actor who was Arnold. One of the real boys next door approached us. He looked at Arnold and said, "You were me!" Then to me, "I like you too, Jack." He walked off. We looked at each other and tried not to cry.

We just did a production of The Boys Next Door at my school, and it is the best play I've ever worked on. I'm a techie and was Assistant Director for our production. I'm so glad I got a chance to work on this production. It is so amazing and touching. I cry every time Norman and Sheila have their dance scene where they waltz and at Lucien's "State Sneck" scene. I would recommend this play to EVERYONE.

I've seen the play performed, and I've read the script. Mr. Griffin does a beautiful job at showing how to enjoy life. If it deals with keys or green library cards. We can't take anything for granted and if we do all that's left for us is to move to Russia. I was very impressed with the show itself. Many people could find it offensive, but those are the people who need to open their hearts and see the beauty of the story line. The characters are so loveable and they can move you to tears because they have no trees.

This is indeed a wonderful work that did have a run on Broadway! It was also featured on NBC as a made for TV movie. It was my understanding that there were efforts for many years to get it on the silver screen, but.....I highly recommend this to any Harold Pinter fans.

Why this didn't hit broadway I will never know, yet in all truth it is an awe-inspiring play which probes through the bounds of intelligence and deep into the human soul. It is the story of four mentally disabled men who live in a group home under the supervision of a man named Jack. Their antics fill our hearts with joy and laughter, yet bring us to tears. It makes us (and I use "us" for this very purpose to illustrate how we are all bound together) realize what we take for granted, which are our full and intelligent lives. These four men lacked our intelligence, yet had so much more in that they did not take for granted the very thing that is most precious to every creature; life. People today do not use their skills in a productive way, some do, sure, yet we take our blessings for granted, these four men help us realize how blessed we really are.