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Guare Plays 1 - The House of Blue Leaves & Landscape of the Body & More
John Guare
The House of Blue Leaves
by John Guare
Awards & Recognition
Drama Critics Circle Obie Award Tony Award
Winner! 1971 Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Play Winner! 1971 Obie Award, Best American Play Nominee! 1986 Tony® Award, Best Revival of a Play
Synopsis
Artie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory.
Toiling by day as a zookeeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York, where he lives with his wife, Bananas, 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 homemade 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.
Press Reviews
"A brilliant play [...] beautifully fashioned [...] Wacky and sometimes sad [with] [...] combined hilarity, poignancy, outrageous stage aside and tragedy."
— New York Daily News
"Enchantingly zany and original farce."
— The New York Times
Videos
House of Blue Leaves
Publication
The House of Blue Leaves is a comedy play written by John Guare and published by Samuel French .
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Performance Rights
Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Minimum Fee: $130 per performance
Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)
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