So last night, I had another lucky opportunity to see a show that I didn't think I would have the chance to see. It turns out that a friend had a pair of comps that she wasn't going to be able to use and so, with a little begging to get the night off at my job, I got to see Brighton Beach Memoirs. I have to say, it was worth the begging!
To snag the summary from Wikipedia: "Set in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York in 1937, the coming-of-age comedy focuses on Eugene Morris Jerome, a Polish-Jewish teenager who experiences puberty, sexual awakening, and a search for identity as he tries to deal with his family, including his older brother Stanley, his parents Kate and Jack, as well as Kate's sister Blanche and her two daughters, Nora and Laurie." Their description is probably more to the point than I would've been.
The original Broadway production of the show premiered in 1983 and starred Matthew Broderick. It was the first play in Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical Eugene trilogy.
This revival of the show, currently in previews, is a very human show that really looks into the lives of these characters. I really enjoyed the way that the characters get their laughs from being human and not from being "funny characters in a play." It's to director David Cromer's credit that he keeps his cast as real as possible. Speaking of real, the set, designed by John Lee Beatty, is a beautiful two story house that really works nicely.
The cast does a great job in making you believe that they are just your average Polish-Jewish family trying to survive the Great Depression and the looming threat of, what would be, World War II. Noah Robbins is a great Eugene! He's just a kid trying to deal with his own problems like puberty and his growing attraction to his cousin, Nora (played by Alexandra Socha).
Aunt Blanche is played by Jessica Hecht. I knew that she seemed so familiar to me and then, I finally remembered where I knew her from. She played Ross' ex-wife Carol's girlfriend (I forgot her name) on Friends, back in the day. Anyway here, she's a widowed sister living with family and is extremely dependent on everyone else making the decisions for her. Hecht plays the role of the needy, dependent sister so well that at one point I wanted to slap her and say, "GROW A PAIR!" And when she finally does, it's a big relief.
Dennis Boutsikaris and Santino Fontana play Jack and Stanley, the father and older brother of the family. They both do a great job a showing the struggle to know when principles need to take a back seat to putting food on the table.
As a kid growing up, one of my favorite television shows to watch was Roseanne. I think part of what made it such a favorite was how close the show's family was to being real and not a "sitcom family." My favorite character, on the show, was Aunt Jackie who was played by the brilliant Laurie Metcalf. Here she plays Kate, the mother of the Jerome family who has the task of keeping everything running smoothly, in the house, while Jack is away at work. Metcalf is so real as Kate and so genius that she could stop the show with just a look! I've loved watching this actress for a long time and this just makes me admire her even more!
It was a real treat to get to see BBM, especially since it was the first play that I had ever read. Starting in November, it's going to be playing in repertory with Broadway Bound and feature most of the same cast. I plan to go back to the Nederlander and see that too! I have a feeling that show will be just as great and I can't wait to see Laurie Metcalf again!
Until next time....
----MC
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