REVIEW: The Comedic Brighton Beach Memoirs Lives on the Razor’s Edge
04/11 - 04/13 @ Sand Lake Center for the Arts
Photos by Wayland W Whitney
“Our narrator is a jokester and, in Hogan’s superb playing, gets laughs throughout the evening; yet we are always aware of the wolf at the door.”
I wonder if the late, great Neil Simon would find it odd that his very urban comedy, Brighton Beach Memoirs, is so comfortably at home in the Sand Lake Center for the Arts. Instead of an hour-long trip on the subway, we just need to take a 20 minute drive along bucolic Route 43 to discover the American Theatre King of Comedy’s semi-autobiographical play about his adolescence.
Ben Hogan in a precocious, powerful performance is the 14 year old playwright, here named Eugene Jerome. In the play, he is writing his memoirs, a journal he’s keeping on his thoughts and witty observations of his extended Polish immigrant family.
Eugene has a lot going on. He’s fantasizing about pitching in a World Series throwing balls against the house, he’s his mother’s little helper running errands to the store and, most maddeningly, he is barely controlling his fixation on his cousin Nora (Vivian Savage, lovely).
His brother Stanley (soulful Adam Erickson) has stood up for a fellow worker and finds his job threatened. Nora has attracted the attention of a Broadway producer who dangles an audition in front of her if she drops out of school. His aunt Blanche (Lisa Bryk in a sharp character turn) is preparing for a date with the Irish drunk across the street in an unfortunate racist subplot. Cousin Laurie (spunky Caleigh Hogan) hasn’t left the house in months due to heart issues. His father Jack (John Rayome in a vivid portrait) is being worn down by his two jobs and accommodating this fractious family of seven in close quarters. Mom Kate (Suzane Rayome who is deeply sympathetic) is trying to keep them all together with liver, cabbage, and challa.
It’s 1937 and behind nearly every situation (except Eugene’s changing body) is the family’s economic precariousness. Although the play is very funny, the stakes feel very different than the Neil Simon plays that preceded this one. Our narrator is a jokester and, in Hogan’s superb playing, gets laughs throughout the evening; yet we are always aware of the wolf at the door. They live on the razor’s edge and all are painfully aware of it. Even Eugene can acknowledge that his brother’s actions leaving the house will cost him his innocence as the child in the house. Everybody needs to grow up, like it or not.
Bob & Sharon Dawes along with set builder Bud Whitney, expertly shoehorn two bedrooms, a sitting area, and a dining table for seven on the SLCA stage. Director Peter Quinones does a fantastic job managing the family dynamic among his cast and also handles the physical space really well as it spills out into the house. Laura Darling has lit well, directing our attention to isolated areas. The space is appropriately tight, but even with Caleigh Hogan who uses a wheelchair, it never gets in the way of the story or the actors movements. I’ve seen casts have a hard time with a space twice this size. Lisa Morgan has some colorful fun with the costumes in this period. Check out the riot of patterns and textures in Eugene’s ensemble.
The cast is having a great time, it feels like they can’t wait to get to the next favorite bit, and the large audience rewards them with loud laughs all night long. This is an audience that loves Simon and they get one on the schedule nearly every year. Hauntingly, the play ends on a grace note as we learn that Jerome's distant relations in Poland have escaped the Nazis and the family in Brighton Beach will make space for them. There is space for you too, this Friday, 4/11 through Sunday, 4/13.
Brighton Beach Memoirs plays this weekend, 4/11-4/13 at Sand Lake Center for the Arts. Tickets: https://www.slca-ctp.org/
