[2] While the play follows the novel closely, Steinbeck altered the character of Curley's Wife, perhaps in response to criticisms from friends.

In the play, Curley's wife does not threaten to have Crooks lynched, and in her final scene she talks of her childhood and her father trying to run away with her.

[3] George, an affable migrant farm worker, and Lennie, a towering simple-minded pleasantly humble young man, are the subjects.

There have been several revivals, the most recent produced in 2014, directed by Anna D. Shapiro with James Franco (George), Chris O'Dowd (Lennie)[6] and Leighton Meester (Curley's Wife).

[14] Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times wrote that "Steinbeck has caught on paper two odd and lovable farm vagrants whose fate is implicit in their characters.