Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The play premiered on Broadway in 1963 and starred Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. The play was made into a film in 1967, also starring Redford, and Jane Fonda.

This was Neil Simon's longest-running hit, and the tenth longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history. Directed by Mike Nichols the cast starred Elizabeth Ashley (Corrie), Robert Redford (Paul), Mildred Natwick (Mrs. Banks), and Kurt Kasznar (Victor Velasco). The play was nominated for three 1964 Tony Awards, and Mike Nichols won the award for Best Director (Dramatic).

Newlyweds Paul and Corrie Bratter move into a small apartment on the top floor of a Brownstone  in New York City after their six-day honeymoon. This provides many of the laughs throughout the play as the characters enter breathless from climbing five flights of stairs.  Or six flights “if you count the front stoop”.

While Paul tries to prove himself as a young lawyer in the courtroom, Corrie not only sets up their place, she also sets up her anxious mother with their peculiar (or in Paul’s opinion—crazy) neighbour, Mr. Velasco! After all, this is a guy who sleeps on a rug instead of a bed and enjoys some pretty bizarre culinary concoctions (eel knichi).  Corrie’s efforts to have fun and spice up her mothers life take the four

on a wild adventure in New York City.

Corrie wants Paul to become more easy-going, for example, run "barefoot in the park” but after the adventurous night out and the events that follow, they begin to wonder if maybe they are too different for one another. The honeymoon might be over, but these two young adults (and the older couple too) still have plenty to learn about themselves and the realties and compromises that come with being in a relationship.