Brighton Beach Memoirs

Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), a play in two acts by Neil Simon. [Alvin Theatre, 1,299 perf.; NYDCC Award.] Eugene Jerome ( Matthew Broderick), an ambitious, somewhat starry‐eyed teenager who wants to be a writer, lives with his extended Jewish family in a lower‐middle‐class home that is filled with tension. His father, Jack ( Peter Michael Goetz), works as a cutter in the garment trade, and his long, hard hours have wearied him. His mother, Kate ( Elizabeth Franz), and her sister, Blanche ( Joyce Van Patten), have harbored age‐old angers that finally explode. But Eugene also has some assets, such as an ability to see through life's short‐range problems and view matters with a cutting wit. Most problems do, in fact, seem to work themselves out for the Jeromes and there is every reason to believe Eugene will realize his ambition. An admittedly autobiographical work, many critics hailed the comedy as a move away from the wisecracking formula plays that Simon had previously offered. He continued the tale with BILOXI BLUES (1985), which ran at the Neil Simon Theatre for 524 performances. Drafted into the army, Eugene (Broderick) resolutely continues to hone his writing skills by keeping a notebook commenting on his fellow draftees and his army life. He also resolves to stay alive and to lose his virginity. He succeeds at both, despite the comic contretemps his notes and his young lusts create. The second play in Simon's semi‐autobiographical trilogy won the Tony Award, though it was slightly less popular than the others, yet it is probably the best written of the three works. BROADWAY BOUND (1986) completed the tale, with grown‐up Eugene ( Jonathan Silverman) and his brother Stanley ( Jason Alexander) pushing hard to become writers of comedy for radio. Yet their home life is often unfunny: their father ( Philip Sterling) is planning to desert their mother ( Linda Lavin) and their maternal grandfather ( John Randolph) has become incontinent and refuses to live with his richer daughter ( Phyllis Newman), a move that would go against his Trotskyite beliefs. Eugene is also courting a girl who is engaged to another man. Luckily, Eugene can see humor in all of this, even when things don't turn out in fairy‐tale fashion. On the strength of good reviews and Lavin's Tony‐winning performance, Broadway Bound ran 756 performances in the Broadhurst Theatre. The trilogy, produced by Emanuel Azenberg, marked a resurgence in Simon's popularity on Broadway after a long fallow period.