Neil Simon’s Little Me comedy brings laughter to Playhouse

The Tony Award Winning comedy that has entertained two generations of Americans is playing in Crossville. On Sept. 11, the laughter will belong to Cumberland County Play goers who come to see Neil Simon’s Little Me, the play Simon wrote to showcase Sid Caesar’s enormous comedic talent and Bob Fosse’s incredible dance numbers which netted Fosse the Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1965. Little Me was also played in a revival on Broadway by Martin Short, who won a Tony Award in his ‘starring roles’ in 1999.

“It’s a tall order to fill Sid Caesar’s and Martin Short’s shoes,” said Jim Crabtree, producing director of the Playhouse, “but we feel Jason Ross is the perfect comedic actor for the job,” he said. “In fact, we chose Little Me because we couldn’t resist the idea of Jason Ross playing the seven men in Belle Poitrine’s rags-to-riches life,” said Crabtree, “and because we knew Renee McKinney would be irresistible as the rags-to-riches Belle from ‘The Other Side of the Tracks.'”

Set in 1962 in The Hamptons, Long Island’s playground for the wealthy, the play opens on the now aged (and now wealthy) Belle, lounging on a white grand piano, martini in one hand and a book in the other, celebrating the premier of her tell-all autobiography entitled “Little Me.” It’s a long way from the ‘Other Side of the Tracks’ to the ‘Right Side of the Tracks’ and Belle left many devastated (and some dead) boyfriends and husbands along the way but she made it. Jason Ross, brilliantly plays them all.

If you’re wondering what sounds familiar in her pursuit to marry wealthy Noble Eggleston, it’s probably the Carolyn Leigh lyrics set to Cy Coleman’s music in fabulous songs like “A Real Live Girl” (?”Pardon me, Miss, but I’ve never done this with a real live girl!”) and “The Other Side of the Tracks.”

“Little Me is a hoot,” said Jim Crabtree. “Though her mother was forced to be a woman of easy virtue with a heart of gold, and though the rich boy she loves has a harridan mama who calls her a “gold-digger,” Belle’s wide-eyed innocence and honesty is in sharp contrast to the “high class” types she encounters in life. As she strives to become “cultured” and “blue-blooded” and “worthy” of her first love, we see that class and character come from the heart and spirit, not the pocketbook,” he said.

“If you need a hearty laugh and a light hearted, memorable story anytime between now and Oct. 25, join us at the Cumberland County Playhouse when we bring you Neil Simon’s Broadway surprise,” said Crabtree. “You’re going to see some of the best performances of our 40 years on the Cumberland Plateau. Yes, Jason Ross can follow right along in Sid Caesar’s and Martin Short’s shoes,” he said. “And yes, Renee McKinney’s Belle makes their lifelong courtship worth all the pain.”

Also playing at the Cumberland County Playhouse are:

• Through Oct. 23?the new Smoke on the Mountain, in its 10th Anniversary Production. Nation-wide, Smoke has become synonymous with the Cumberland County Playhouse. Set in 1938 in the mountains around Asheville, N.C., the Sanders family has been invited as the “Special Singers” at the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. The audience becomes the congregation in this hit comedy that is a feast of well played and well sung gospel and bluegrass music.

“All you have to be to enjoy Smoke on the Mountain is human” —The Nashville Tennessean.

• Also upcoming: 42nd Street, the greatest Broadway tap musical of them all.

For tickets and information, call 931-484-5000. For general information, log on to www.ccplayhouse.com.