Editing God's Favorite (section)

==Reception==
[[Clive Barnes]], in his review for ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote: 
<blockquote>...&nbsp;this may be Mr. Simon's most imaginative play, it is not one of his better works. Not only is the opening slow, but also the ending is anticlimactic. If you have exploited tragedy for its humor, how do you get around a happy ending? ... More than any other Simon play, ''God's Favorite'' depends heavily on its staging and setting. Michael Bennett's direction lets all God break loose. ... William Ritman's collapsing mansion is some of the most fiendish theatrical real estate we have seen in years.<ref name=barnes>{{cite news |author=Barnes, Clive |title=''God's Favorite'' is Simon's ''Job'' on L.I. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 12, 1974 |page=59 |df=dmy-all}}</ref></blockquote>

Thomas S. Hischak (Professor of Performing Arts, [[SUNY]] Cortland) wrote that Simon had been writing about "serious issues" in his last several plays, but "stumbled awkwardly" with ''God's Favorite''. Hischak described the play as a "modern version of the story of ''Job'' that moved into schtick the closer it edged to genuine grief". Hischak noted that Simon had said that the play was written "as a reaction to his wife's untimely death from cancer".<ref>{{cite book |author=Hischak, Thomas S. |year=2001 |chapter=1969–1975 |title=American Theatre: A chronicle of comedy and drama, 1969–2000 |page=81 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aSM__nVScAC&q=%22Neil+Simon%22+%22God%27s+Favorite%22&pg=PA81 |via=books.google.com |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-512347-6}}</ref>

The pre-production of ''God's Favorite'' was chronicled on a January 1975 edition of the CBS News program ''[[60 Minutes]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Obsolete Video|title=KABC-7 KNXT-2 1973-4 60 Minutes|date=2019-05-26|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H59QX_3mWeo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/H59QX_3mWeo |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=2019-05-26}}{{cbignore}} (via [[YouTube]]; segment begins at 2:42)</ref>