Berkshire on Stage

I love the work of Neil Simon. In the 1970s and 1980s, his plays were ubiquitous on Broadway. 1983 saw the beginning of his semi-autobiographical Eugene trilogy with Brighton Beach Memoirs, followed by Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. The first of this trilogy, Brighton Beach Memoirs, is performing at Sand Lake Center for the Arts, and this Eugene (Benjamin Hogan) would make Neil Simon proud.

Taking place in 1937 in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, we are presented with the home of the Jeromes, an immigrant Polish Jewish family. Outside, 15 year old Jerome is playing ball, pretending he is a player for the New York Yankees, announcing the game as he plays. At home lives his mom, Kate (Suzanne Rayome), his older brother, Stanley (Adam Erickson), and his father, Jack (John Rayome). Following the untimely death of her husband three years before, Blanche (Lisa Bryk), Kate’s sister, has moved in with her teen-aged daughter Nora (Vivian Savage), and her younger daughter, Laurie (Caleigh Hogan).

 At the onset of the play, Jack announces he lost his side job due to bankruptcy, and fears his inability to support all seven family members on his meager single salary. At the same time, with the impending second World War, he worries about his extended family in Poland and wonders how he will support them if they make it to America.

Eugene, who is the proverbial adolescent, is developing his love of writing, chronicling daily family life in his diary, fantasizing about playing for the Yankees, and lusting after his cousin Laurie,often imagining her naked. He looks up to his brother Stanley, who is working and seemingly more experienced with women.

Kate is the harried mother and wife, looking after everyone, and believing all the caretaking falls on her. Her younger sister, Blanche, has deteriorating eyesight, and struggles to make child-rearing decisions alone, deeply missing her husband. Her daughter, Nora, has the opportunity to audition for a dancing role on Broadway, but has not completed her high school education. Nora resents living with the Jeromes and desperately longs for her Dad and not her Uncle Jack to shepherd her. Her younger sister has an unspecified heart condition which leads to everyone’s fears of overly stressing her, resulting in Laurie being  coddled, and  resented by Nora.

Jack, a salt of the earth Dad, works very hard for little pay, and his health suffers. He is remarkably understanding of Stanley who struggles with a moral dilemma at work which leads to his threatened firing. Mismanagement of his money later in the play and fear of his Dad’s reaction, also leads to a poignant, interaction between son and Dad.

The cast under the direction of Peter Quinones works beautifully together as a family. I am sure it helps that there are two sets of real life relatives among the cast. We see the depth of emotion Suzanne displays as Kate as she responds with love, anger, frustration and tears to her children, her husband and her sister. She complains that she has been the family workhorse her whole life, while Blanche is the pretty one. Bryk, as Blanche, grows stronger and less helpless as the play evolves. She recognizes her need for independence as her adolescent daughter matures with a similar need to separate. The scene in Act 2 between Bryk and Savage is a moving mother-daughter moment.

Hogan’s Eugene carries most of the comedy of Simon’s play. Simon’s writing imbues Eugene with self-awareness, ambition, deprecation, envy and plain old horniness. We laugh with Eugene as he navigates adolescence. We support him as he tries to get approval from his parents. The desire for parental approval is a major theme for all the children living in the Jerome household. Hogan’s comic delivery is effortless, lights up the stage and elevates everyone’s performance.

The ample wide stage, designed by Bob and Sharon Dawes allows the audience to see the shared bedroom of the brothers and sisters, separated by a partition, the living room and dining room, decorated simply in period appropriate furniture, and the outside front of the home, below the proscenium. Entrances to different rooms in the modest home come from behind stage or through the audience aisles.

Costumes designed by Lisa Morgan find Eugene in knickers and argyle sweaters with a baseball cap, while older brother Stanley is in long pants. The aprons Kate and Blanche wear remind me of my grandmothers’ who lived during the same era. Attention to detail is reflected in the accessories the females wear (hats, shoes, pearls) and bring the audience to the 1930s when money was tight, but appearance was important. Most impressive are the hairstyles sported by Blanche and Kate. Too often, actors wear dreadful wigs which never look realistic. Kudos to whomever takes the time to pin up and perfectly style both women. Nora also has lovely curls, while little sister, Laurie has age-appropriate braids.

Lighting Designer, Laura Darling, enables us to focus our attention on different parts of the house and the ‘outside’ depending on where the action is happening.

While Simon does not present major conflicts while depicting his early life, he shows a loving family with financial worries, dreams, disappointments, loss and resentments. Hogan enables us to see Simon’s developing comic gifts. He questions, “How am I going to be a writer if I don’t know how to suffer?”

What is missing in this production (as a minor critique) is the Brooklyn Jewish flavor that colored Simon’s life. Accents are inconsistent and sometimes sound like the family is from Boston. While references are made to their being Jewish immigrants and Jack being somewhat observant, the ethnicity is lacking.

Nevertheless, Quinones directs a cast leaving us with the desire to follow Eugene (and Hogan) through the next two plays in the trilogy. Brighton Beach Memoirs presents Simon’s functional family, and this cast ably reflects how family members support each other. We leave the theater smiling.

Sand Lake Center for the Arts presents Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, directed by Peter Quinones, April 4-13, 2025. CAST: Benjamin Hogan as Eugene, Suzanne Rayome as Kate, Adam Erickson as Stanley, John Rayome as Jack, Lisa Bryk as Blanche, Vivian Savage as Nora, and Caleigh Hogan as Laurie. CREATIVE TEAM: Set design by Bob and Sharon Dawes, costume design by Lisa Morgan, lighting design by Laura Darling.

The Sand Lake Center for the Arts is located at 2880 NY-43 in Averill Park, NY. Performances April 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 7:30 pm; April 6 and 13 at 2:30 pm. Tickets $12-$22. https://www.slca-ctp.org/ 518-674-2007.