| The Seven Year Itch | |
| Setting: | The apartment of the Richard Shermans, in the Gramercy Park section of New York City. Present time. |
| Premiere: | November 20, 1952 |
| Place: | Fulton Theatre New York City |
| Orig Lang: | English |
| Subject: | Fidelity |
| Genre: | Comedy |
The Seven Year Itch is a 1952 three-act play written by George Axelrod. The original Broadway production starred Tom Ewell and Vanessa Brown.
The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists.[1]
The play was filmed in 1955 as The Seven Year Itch, directed and co-written by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe and Ewell, reprising his Broadway role.
The stage version premiered at the Fulton Theatre on November 20, 1952, and closed there on August 13, 1955, after a run of 1,141 performances, making it the longest-running non-musical play of the 1950s.[2] [3]
Replacement cast members during the original Broadway run included Eddie Albert, Eddie Bracken, and Elliott Nugent as Richard Sherman; Sally Forrest and Louise King as The Girl; and Paulette Girard as Marie What-Ever-Her-Name-Was.[4]
The touring production starred Eddie Bracken as Richard Sherman and also featured Gena Rowlands as Elaine.[5] In London, the West End production starred Rosemary Harris.[5]
Although The Seven Year Itch has never returned to Broadway, it was revived in a 2000 London production starring Daryl Hannah, and the play continues to be produced in community theatres and small professional theatres such as the Ivoryton Playhouse, the American Century Theatre, and the Miami Theatre Center.[6]
An American husband, married for seven years, fantasises about his adventurous past, and future, particularly with "the girl" who moves into his apartment block.