Brighton Beach Memoirs

Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs is a portrait of the writer as a Brooklyn teenager in 1937 living with his family in crowded, lower middle class circumstances. It is part of Simon’s autobiographical trilogy that follows his life from Brooklyn to Broadway, which also included Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. The play, narrated by 15-year-old Eugene, captures a few days in the life of a struggling Jewish household. The boy’s sardonic wit and flair for one-liners lends unusual insight into the life of his close-knit family that includes his sharp-tongued mother Kate, hard-working father Jack, worldly older brother Stanley, his widowed Aunt Blanche, sickly, pampered cousin Laurie and nubile cousin Nora. Family miseries provide him with endless material and raise such enduring issues as sibling rivalries and the hunger for dignity in a poverty stricken world. But their love for one another transcends their adversities in this deeply appealing play that deftly mixes drama with comedy.

There will be an additional 2pm matinee on Saturday, May 27.