Ten Years of Performing and Writing

Abstract

Betty Comden and Adolph Green moved into their 60s and early 70s and found that they had become right for character roles in films. During the late 1970s and the 1980s they appeared in movies such as Garbo Talks, Simon, and I Want to Go Home. Comden also appeared off-Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein’s Isn’t It Romantic? They’d not given up on writing for the stage, and in 1982 one of their most ambitious shows—A Doll’s Life—opened on Broadway. Unfortunately, the Harold Prince–directed show got a critical drubbing and played fewer than ten performances. They also provided the script for a stage version of Singin’ in the Rain, directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp. It was also cooly received by critics, and after it shuttered the team reworked it, and that production enjoyed a healthy national tour.