About the Play:

Never Too Late is a full-length comedy by Sumner Arthur Long. It revolves around the hilarious antics of a man who discovers he's about to be a father again. Seeing as it's been 24 years since his last child was born, this hysterical comedy proves it's never too late to start anew.

Never Too Late is about the hilarity that ensues when a middle-aged woman discovers to her delight – and her husband's shock – that she is going to have a baby. His last child, a girl, was born 24 years ago and, considering the fool she married, he finds the prospect of another unthinkable. Harry Lambert is a lumber company executive living a humdrum life with his wife Edith. He feels his life has grown stale since his recent defeat by his neighbour in an election for town mayor. His spoiled-brat adult daughter Kate and lackluster son-in-law Charlie live with him; she gets up for breakfast at lunchtime and he lives a freeloader's life, working at the lumber company. Something is about to change their lives forever. It's not only the surprising news of the impending birth that startles Harry; his previously meek little wife Edith begins to lay down the law – there's to be a nursery and a new bathroom – and the conflict causes a strain in the marriage of the older couple, but this being a comedy, everything turns out well in the end.

Never Too Late premiered in 1962 at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway in New York City and then opened in 1963 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in West End of London, both to overwhelming critical reviews. The play was a commercial success running for more than two years on Broadway, enjoyed widespread acceptance among leading regional theatres, and has become a popular choice for school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 6 male

What people say:

"Good old fashioned domestic farce... plain and simple laughter." — New York Daily News

"It fractured the first nighters... They'll love it in community playhouses, college productions, and high school senior plays." — New York World Telegram and Sun

"...an irascible, ranting, aging husband whose comfortable life is suddenly somersaulted when his middle-aged wife informs him she is pregnant, is a joy to watch." — Daily Mirror (London)

"Never Too Late by Sumner Arthur Long ... has zippy lines and a situation reminiscent of an old TV sitcom, all of which makes good community theater." — The Oklahoman

About the Playwright:

Sumner Arthur Long (1921-1993) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He read the classics, taught himself to write, and came to Hollywood in the early 1950s. He got work writing many episodes of the original Lassie series and other TV programs. In the midst of this and with no practical experience of the theatre, he decided to write a play. He was walking along the street and a woman caught his eye. She was in her fifties, very pregnant, and beaming. He thought to himself, "I wonder what her husband said when...." Some years later, he finished that thought with his most notable work, the play Never Too Late, and also wrote the script for the film by the same name.