Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets (1906-1963) was a playwright whose work often involved social, economic, and political issues and was a major figure in the Group Theatre. Entering theater originally as a method trained actor, his first staged play was Waiting for Lefty (1935, which he also directed). It used framing scenes (a meeting of union cab drivers waiting to decide on a strike until their chairman Lefty arrives) to surround other vignettes expressing socialist views and concerns and the problems of capitalism. 
Odets' other plays include Awake and Sing! (about the financial travails of a Jewish family), Golden Boy (whose hero is torn between artistic worth as a violinist and becoming a boxer for money), The Country Girl, Night Music, and The Flowering Peach (which was later adapted as the musical Two by Two). He wrote or contributed to screenplays on occasion, including for the film Sweet Smell of Success.
==References== 
* A Sesame Street sketch bears the script title "Waiting for Lefty," as two gangsters wait for Lefty to arrive and give the secret knock. 
* Sir John Feelgood, paying one of his thespic visits to the street in Episode 3590, recalls his role as a rooster in Awake and Crow, studying a real rooster as his model.
==Connections==
*Lauren Ambrose played Hennie Berger in the 2006 Broadway revival of Awake and Sing! 
*Lola Falana played Lola and ensemble roles in the 1966 musical version of Golden Boy
*Morgan Freeman played Frank Elgin in the 2008 Broadway revival of The Country Girl
*Harry Hamlin played Moe Axelrod in the 1984 Broadway revival of Awake and Sing!
*Anne Jackson played Esther in the 1994 Broadway revival of The Flowering Peach
*Will Lee was a replacement as Sigge in Golden Boy (1938) and played a waiter in Night Music (1940)
*Frances McDormand played Hennie Berger in the 1984 Broadway revival of Awake and Sing! and Georgie Elgin in the 2008 revival of The Country Girl
*Theresa Merritt played ensemble roles in the 1966 musical version of Golden Boy
*Joe Ponazecki played Paul Unger in the 1972 Broadway revival of The Country Girl
*Mark Ruffalo played Moe Axelrod in the 2006 Broadway revival of Awake and Sing!
*Tony Shalhoub played Mr. Bonaparte in the 2012 Broadway revival of Golden Boy
*Maureen Stapleton played Georgie Elgin in the 1972 Broadway revival of The Country Girl
*Zoë Wanamaker played Bessie Berger in the 2006 Broadway revival of Awake and Sing!
*Jack Warden played Mickey in the 1952 Broadway revival of Golden Boy
*David Wohl played Mickey in the 2012 Broadway revival of Golden Boy
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Category:Stage References