The last time Neil Simon fooled around with Russia, in "The Good Doctor," he engaged himself in an uneasy partnership with Chekhov. Now in "Fools," … he has contented himself with a comic fairy-tale romance that should prove mildly diverting to adults and even more so to schoolchildren.

Once upon a time, according to Simon's fable, a new school-master arrived at a Ukrainian village whose inhabitants had been struck dumb—or rather, stupid—200 years before by a curse which has afflicted all their descendants. Following in the footsteps of countless other schoolteachers, all of whom evidently had the good sense to back off before it was too late, Leon Tolchinsky must deliver the people from the curse within 24 hours or, if he fails and does not leave before the time is up, turn stupid himself.

The situation would appear at first glance to be a promising one for a writer of Simon's comic talents, but on closer inspection it becomes obvious that only so many changes can be rung on it. In a shifting interior-exterior storybook setting …, it takes the author less than an hour-and-a-half, not counting an intermission, to work things out. The solution, after a few close calls, is a bit sloppy, as if Simon had exhausted his invention, but all ends happily.

The odd and rather disarming thing about "Fools" is the gentleness of most of Simon's humor. Not that there isn't a plenitude of typical Simon gags. One of them (Doctor: "You'll live to be 80." Patient: "I'm 79 now." Doctor: "You have a wonderful year ahead.") might even have been left over from "The Sunshine Boys." But true love, of all things, is uppermost in our playwright's mind. And Tolchinsky's adored little fool of a Sophia, whose loveliness keeps him there in the village of Kolyenchikov till the clock strikes the fateful hour, has a wisdom surpassing his textbook knowledge….

"Fools" is low-keyed and even slight Simon, but it is also surprisingly warmhearted Simon, and it passes the time amiably enough.