Review: THE SUNSHINE BOYS at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 10th September 2026.

The Adelaide Repertory Theatre Society is presenting Neil Simon’s 1972 bittersweet comedy, The Sunshine Boys, directed by Peter Goers, who also designed the set and provides the voice of the CBS television director. Other voice-overs were provided by David Grybowski and Brenton Whittle. Goers has brought together a very strong cast for this production and set it in front of a back projection of a theatre auditorium, a reminiscence of the era of Vaudeville in which the two protagonists spent their heydays.

For 43 years, Al Lewis and Willie Clark performed as the highly successful Vaudeville comedy duo, The Sunshine Boys. They haven’t spoken since Al decided to retire, eleven years ago. Cantankerous, manipulative Willie’s solo career went nowhere and he now lives alone in a cluttered, messy apartment; a grumpy old man with a failing memory. His talent agent nephew, Ben Silverman, arranges a spot on a CBS special for the duo, and attempts to bring the two back together for one final performance of their old ‘doctor and tax collector’ sketch.

Willie blames their antagonistic relationship on Al’s habits of spitting in his face on every word beginning with the letter T, and jabbing him in the chest with a finger to emphasise a point. Ben’s attempt to bring them together is filled with barriers. Willie is initially against the whole idea, but is eventually convinced to meet with Al and try to make it work. They grudgingly come to a mutual agreement that both are against it, but will do it.

The two feuding old men are played by Rob Cusenza, as Willie Clark, and Robin Schmelzkopf, as Al Lewis. Willie’s ego is the barrier that allows him to refuse to accept that Vaudeville is long dead, like his career, as he blames Ben for failing to find work for him. The auditions for advertisements that Ben has arranged for him in the past have all shown Willie’s failure to adapt to the modern world. He blames Ben for those failures and his inability to find him bigger roles, and Al for dissolving the act, but not himself. There is sadness beneath the comedy of the bombastic ranting of this old man who has only his memories of success to sustain him. Cusenza embraces this duality in the role, the fragility of Willie’s situation underlying the witty lines, occasionally allowing the mask to slip, revealing the deeper side of Willie.

Al is the straight man to Willie’s comic, in their act and in life. He saw the writing on the wall and sensibly retired from show business to become a stockbroker before they became irrelevant, later transitioning into a quiet, comfortable old age, living with his daughter and grandchildren. Schmelzkopf provides a fine foil to Cusenza’s Willie, suggesting that it had been Al who brought stability to their partnership, and who now tries to do the same for this reunion. Together, Cusenza and Schmelzkopf are a wonderful pairing, bouncing off each other and establishing a great rapport.They also offer lots of ‘shtick’, silent, physical comic business that dates back to the clowns, the zanni, in Comedia dell’Arte and, as exhibited here, it still draws plenty of laughs today.

Tom Tassone plays Ben, showing the frustration and stress of dealing with Willie. Every Wednesday visit becomes a trial by fire as Willie throws every effort back in his face. Tassone brings out that mix of love for his uncle and simmering resentment at the dismissal of every effort he makes on Willie’s behalf. It is a nicely crafted characterisation.

Lauren Thiel plays the actress who is recruited to portray the sexy nurse in the sketch that they are rehearsing for their spot in the CBS History of Comedy special. She throws herself into the role and plays for every laugh she can get. It is here, though, that the aging of this play becomes clear since, as well as a couple of racist moments which caused a number of people to draw an intake of surprised breath, there is the belittling of women with the inclusion of the archetypal ‘dumb blonde in a skimpy outfit’, which went out of fashion with the end of the Benny Hill show and Carry On films era.

Eddie, the television production assistant who is desperately trying to keep everything in the studio on track as Willie and Al vent their disagreements, is played by Seth Gilmore, neatly showing every bit of Eddie’s growing panic, and the ever reliable Penni Hamilton-Smith gives another fine performance as the no-nonsense registered nurse who cares for Willie as he recovers at home from the heart attack, giving as good as she gets in her interaction with the difficult invalid. Even the stage manager, Jonathon Holds, briefly takes to the stage to play the role of The Patient in the opening of the doctor sketch.

After the first round of bows, Cusenza and Schmelzkopf donned striped jackets and went into a song and dance routine on Bring Me Sunshine, composed in 1966 by Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee, and once used as the theme for their television show by the English comedy duo, Morcambe and Wise. It went down well with the audience.