I decided to take a little break from the deep-fried goodness of the Chenango County Fair Thursday night and spend a little time down in Greene with my good friend, Neil Sedaka.

I can’t really perpetuate that scenario much further than that, because the truth is I didn’t really know much about the oeuvre of Mr. Sedaka until I saw the Chenango River Theatre’s production of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” last night.

The play, a romantic farce set in a ‘60s Catskills resort, is built around the songs of Neil Sedaka, which are woven seamlessly into the plot, to great effect. And man, was this guy prolific! (Is, I would assume, as he’s still alive). I had no idea so many staples of that era were penned by (and many performed by) Neil Sedaka.

“Breaking Up” opens its show-within-a-show with a Labor Day weekend revue at the stereotypical Esther’s Paradise Resort in the Catskills. Groan-worthy comic Harvey Feldman (John Felix) does his Borscht Belt shtick while greasy lounge singer Del Delmonaco (Richard Rella Jr.) lays it on thick with the Sedaka tunes, much to the delight of his aging Jewish audience and the resort’s harried owner, Esther Simowitz (Lourelene Snedeker). Among the resort’s guests is recently-jilted bride Marge Gelman (Leah Monzillo), who’s dragged on what was supposed to be her honeymoon by her feisty best friend Lois Warner (Kim Morgan Dean), who stands in for the almost-groom and vows to make the most of the “already paid for” vacation. Rounding out the cast is bumbling stage hand Gabe Green (Joe Lehman), a secret songwriter who develops a crush on Marge. Marge, of course, is smitten with the more dashing but vapid Del, and ... well, this isn’t Shakespeare, folks. It’s easy to see where the plot is going, but getting there is more than half the fun.

While many of the Sedaka songs ( “Oh, Carol!” and “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” for example) are in the context of the stage show at Esther’s, many more are actually character-motivated. Marge confesses her deepest feelings in “The Diary,” Lois her frustrations with Marge in “Stupid Cupid” and even poor schmuck Harvey gets a tender moment with “King of Clowns.”