Brighton Beach Memoirs

One can’t help but feel a bit homesick after seeing the homespun, heartfelt production of Brighton Beach Memoirs currently in performances at the Nederlander Theater. Directed by David Cromer, the man behind the brilliant off-Broadway production of Our Town at the Barrow Street Theater, Neil Simon’s story of a tight-knit family packed even more tightly into a house on Brighton Beach is an authentic, entertaining depiction of human life at its best and worst.Narrated by Eugene, the 15-year-old alter ego to Simon, this production of Memoirs is so intimately acted that it doesn’t feel like one is watching a play, but merely peeking through the window of the Jerome family house. Eugene is the younger brother of Stanley (played by Santino Fontana in a standout heartfelt performance). His family has also taken in the widowed Blanche (Jessica Hecht) and her daughters, Nora (Alexandra Socha) and Laurie (Gracie Bea Lawrence), splitting and sharing bedrooms to make enough room for everyone and struggling to feed both families at dinner every night.The family leads a simple, modest life in their over-crowded home where, it appears, someone is always talking or eating, if not both. Despite how packed their rooms are, in the lovely, authentic set designs by John Lea Beatty, they never seem claustrophobic. And despite their worries, everyone in this family loves each other and while they may wish for privacy, they do not want anyone to leave.The women and children all rely on his parents Kate (Laure Metcalf) and Jack (Dennis Boutsikaris), who both deliver fantastic performances as the world-weary matriarch and patriarch of this home. Quick-spoken and slightly sarcastic, Metcalf’s Kate watches everything and misses nothing that happens in her house, as if she thinks the house would crumble to the ground if she stopped for a moment. As the patient patriarch Jack, Boutsikaris is slightly too handsome and polished to convincingly portray a man who works two jobs to support his extended family but his gentle authority is a welcome presence onstage. As a pair, the two share a quiet, honest affection that provides a refreshing example of how love in a marriage can last.The true standout of the play, and rightfully so, is Noah Robbins, making an auspicious Broadway debut as Eugene. He is clever, comfortable and, most importantly of all, extremely funny. Without Eugene’s wise-cracking commentary on his family’s life, there would be no Brighton Beach Memoirs. Thankfully, we have a wonderful Eugene leading an equally wonderful supporting cast. Robbins shares truly great chemistry with Fontana, revealing how he simultaneously idolizes and despises his older brother. The conversations the two share behind their closed bedroom door also reveal an incredible honesty and chemistry between the two actors as they discuss money, family, and, of course, women, as Eugene is smack in the middle of adolescence and suffering from hormones as any 15 year old boy would.The plot of Memoirs which centers around the family member’s individual problems, does seem dated in the present-day, when it is rare that families sit down to eat dinner together without the interruptions of televisions or text messages. Did I mention the Jerome’s don’t even own a telephone? While the conflicts of the first act are authentic, they are wrapped up in the second is a bit to quickly and neatly. Nonetheless, one can’t help but be happy that this family got a happy ending. At least, until Broadway Bound opens in December.