Brighton Beach Memoirs
Written by Neil Simon
Directed by Cody Estle
at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map)
thru June 29 | tickets: $15-$36 | more info
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Young director does Neil Simon right
Raven Theatre presents
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Review by John Olson
Eugene, the 15-year-old character that is Neil Simon’s surrogate in this semi-autobiographical comedy, narrates and comments on this story of a Jewish family in 1937 Brooklyn. Eugene is a pretty normal 15-year-old – obsessed with sports, dealing with his budding libido and caught in those awkward years between being a kid and an adult. He has a way of seeing things, though, and figuring out more than you’d expect him to understand about what’s going on in his home. That Eugene has the voice of a 15-year-old but the perspective of an adult didn’t fully hit me until after the play ended. While that’s a tribute to Simon’s writing, I don’t doubt that the real life Simon was quite perceptive at that age himself. His gifts surely didn’t emerge from nowhere upon reaching adulthood and they’re in full view in this, one of his most respected plays. His onstage surrogate family, the Jeromes (an extended family which includes a widowed sister-in-law and her two daughters) are living through the Great Depression, the inevitability of World War II and anxiety over the fate of relatives still in Poland. All of that plus the normal stuff of being an adult, a kid, in marriage, you name it. As I recall, it was with this play, which premiered 30 years ago, that Simon began to get some critical respect. With good reason – it’s an enormously entertaining show, as funny as any of his comedies but warm and empathetic as well. Director Cody Estle and his cast give Brighton Beach Memoirs a polished and sprightly revival that ought not to be missed.
He’s surrounded by very natural, genuine and equally funny performances by this terrific cast, who all seem quite comfortable in their characters as if in a second skin. JoAnn Montemurro as the mother Kate keeps the tension and momentum going. She’s the one in the family who worries about everything and everyone. A stay-at-home mom (were there any other kinds until World War II?), she cooks, cleans and frets about finances in this depression-era household. Ms. Montemurro tosses off many of the best laughs with the complete conviction of a mother who knows she’s right, whatever the facts – and she’s equally convincing in her big moments in the second act when all the pressure leads her to boil over. Her husband, Jack, is played with a weary quiet and kindness by Ron Quade, whose sensitive performance is just as organic as Montemurro’s. Jack works two jobs to support the two families under his roof – and still finds the energy, somehow, to be the wise man of the family and make the big decisions that need to be made. Sam Hubbard plays the older son, Stanley, who’s foregone college so her can help support the family by working in a shoe store for a crotchety old skinflint who at the start of play Stanley has insulted after standing up for a disabled co-worker. Hubbard gives us a beautifully clear picture of Stanley’s anxiety over the situation – and over another, even bigger crisis he faces in the second act. The dark times of the Depression are forcing Stanley to become an adult without having much opportunity to enjoy his young adulthood.
Liz Fletcher is the widowed sister-in-law Blanche, whose husband died tragically at age 36. We suspect her husband Dave ran the show – as Blanche seems pretty helpless now – not working outside the home or doing much within it to help the long-suffering Kate. Fletcher nicely shows Blanche’s illusions without leading us to resent her, until Blanche develops a spine late in the play. Sophia Menendian is suitably headstrong as 17-year-old Nora, who has a chance at a dancing career that would require her to quit high school, and Elizabeth Stenholt is appropriately bratty as the brainy kid sister who has some sort of chronic illness that has led her to be coddled by the rest of the family.
Estle shows he’s a young director to watch. He keeps the cast moving at just the right paces around the brilliant set – a two story house with cut-away bedrooms on the second floor designed by Amanda Rozmiarek. The action is quick as befits the chaotic Jerome household, but Estle knows when and how to slow things down and get quiet. He moves between Simon’s more dramatic moments and his sudden shifts into comic relief with skill. His ensemble of colorful individual characters has great chemistry and is entirely believable as a family. The jokes land, but they all seem to come from someplace very real – and the authentic period costumes by Frances Maggio along with props and set dressing by Mary O’Dowd all help to bring us in to Brooklyn, circa 1936 (though the accents feel a little forced).
Raven specializes in contemporary American plays and they’ve long included Neil Simon on the repertoire alongside the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and August Wilson. Simon’s not quite at that level here. In the second act, he too dutifully and diagrammatically contrives a series of major confrontations between three pairs of the characters. Kate and Blanche, Blanche and Nora and Eugene and Stanley each let loose a volley of long-suppressed feelings that threatens to end their relationships – and these crises are too neatly resolved by the end of the play. Even so, Simon’s ability to draw humor from keen observation of common, recognizable behaviors and his creation of a historical setting that brings the Depression and the Holocaust to life makes this a richly satisfying play. With this production, Raven has a persuasive and entertaining case for examining Simon alongside the greats.
Rating: ★★★½
Brighton Beach Memoirs continues through June 29th at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $15-$36, and are available by phone (773-338-2177) or online through TicketTurtle.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at RavenTheatre.com. (Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Dean La Prairie
artists
cast
Charlie Bazzell (Eugene). Liz Fletcher (Blanche), Sam Hubbard (Stanley), Sophia Menendian (Nora), JoAnn Montemurro (Kate), Ron Quade (Jack), Elizabeth Stenholt (Laurie).
behind the scenes
Cody Estle (director), Michael Menendian (producing artistic director), Kate Maziak (stage manager), Vincent Mraz (assistant director), Amanda Rozmiarek (set design, scenic art), Greg Hoffman & Nick Belley (lighting design), Kate Hardiman (dramaturg), Hana Rickert (assistant stage manager), Andrei Onegin (technical director), Frances Maggio (costume design), Mary O’Dowd (properties, set dressing) Melissa Schlesinger (sound design), Kendra Thulin (dialect coach), Any Dominguez (assistant costume designer), Justin Castellano (master electrician), Mike Bettenhausen, Adrian Rozendaal, Conor Clark (assistants to the technical director), Liz Fletcher (hair stylist).
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