Same Time, Next Year

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Same Time, Next Year is a play by Bernard Slade which tells the story of a couple, married to others, who develop a relationship in which they meet each year at a country inn and spend a weekend together. The relationship evolves into emotional intimacy over the course of 24 years, and they become much more than clandestine lovers. Though they only meet once a year, they become important parts of one another's lives.

The show had a London production at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1976.

In 1978 it was made into a film starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. The movie was adapted by Bernard Slade from his play, and was directed by Robert Mulligan. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ellen Burstyn), Best Cinematography, Best Music, Song (Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman for "The Last Time I Felt Like This") and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Exteriors for the film were shot at the Heritage House Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Little River, California, south of Mendocino. The shell of the cottage was built on a temporary foundation overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Its interior was only skeletal as all interior photography was done on sound stages in Hollywood. After the film was completed, as a thank you to Heritage House, the studio paid for the cottage shell to be relocated to a new permanent foundation, and the interior was finished and outfitted with the studio sets. The "Same Time, Next Year" cottage became so popular as a vacation rental, that subsequently, a wall was built to divide the cottage into two private suites named "Same Time" and "Next Year". The cottage remains popular as a romantic get-a-way and requires advance reservations.

Paul McCartney contributed a title song to the film, though it was ultimately not used, and was released by McCartney as a b-side in the late 1980s.

The play has been adapted by Hong Kong filmmaker Clifton Ko for the 1994 movie I Will Wait for You (年年有今日, Nian nian you jin ri), starring Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Anita Yuen.