Encouraged by the success of Eduardo de Filippo's play staged with the National Theatre Company in London, Zeffirelli produced an American version for the U.S. market. The production was practically a replica of the English one (in fact, the playbill featured the note "presented by arrangement with the National Theatre of Great Britain"), but the entire technical and artistic cast was new and American.
However, the show did not receive the same great favor in New York as it had in London. Clearly, the family dynamics described in the play were too distant from the American mentality and sensibility.