The Dinner Party

By Richard Zoglin Sunday, Oct. 29, 2000
    • "Do you know what I never said to you during our divorce?" "That you'll take less money?" The couples-therapy repartee in this Broadway comedy harks back to the old Neil Simon, the one who used to churn out hits. But the new Neil Simon needs one desperately, so here he tries grafting Plaza Suite onto No Exit. Six people arrive separately at a Paris restaurant in response to a mysterious dinner invitation; all are divorced couples, it turns out, who proceed to hash over their failed marriages. Despite the energizing presence of TV vets John Ritter and Henry Winkler, the evening is a dull connect-the-dots game, where the final picture still looks like just a bunch of dots.