Mary Tyler Moore exits Neil Simon play

Moore missed both the matinee and evening performances Wednesday, and her understudy, Patricia Hodges, went on, said Jim Byk, a spokesman for Manhattan Theatre Club. Hodges will continue in the role.

Mara Buxbaum, a spokeswoman for Moore, did not return phone calls, and Simon declined to comment on the situation, spokesman Bill Evans said.

But in a statement in the New York Times for Friday's editions, Buxbaum said, "Mary was devastated and completely debilitated personally and professionally. Mary has been working tirelessly for months but feels pushed out of this production."

Moore was seen storming out the backstage door minutes before the 2 p.m. curtain Wednesday, the Times said. Several sources close to the production said the actress had just received a brusque letter written by Simon reproaching her for not knowing her lines, according to the Times.

"We are disappointed that the Neil Simon-Mary Tyler Moore collaboration did not work out," Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove, who run MTC, said in a joint statement. "We respect enormously the talents of both Ms. Moore and Mr. Simon."

In "Rose's Dilemma," Moore played Rose Steiner, a writer struggling to pay the bills and haunted by the memory of her dead lover, a writer named Walsh McLaren (John Cullum). With Walsh's help, Rose drums up one last idea, finding a disheveled ghostwriter (David Aaron Baker) to help finish Walsh's last novel -- with the help of Walsh, who is seen only by Rose.

Critics were to have started seeing "Rose's Dilemma" Dec. 12 with an opening scheduled for Dec. 18. It will open as scheduled at MTC's Stage I, Byk said on Friday.

Another version of "Rose's Dilemma," titled "Rose and Walsh," was done earlier this year at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. That production starred Jane Alexander and Len Cariou.

It has not been a good fall for the Manhattan Theatre Club. Its new Broadway home, the newly restored Biltmore Theatre, opened in November with a troubled production of Richard Greenberg's "The Violet Hour." Jasmine Guy withdrew from the cast less than two weeks before the play's Nov. 6 opening, leaving during intermission of a preview performance. She was replaced by her understudy, Robin Miles.

Another actress, Laura Benanti, also left the show.