The Maltz Production of ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ is a Classic

Neil Simon might be the most underappreciated “serious” playwright for today’s audiences.  Sure, my generation knows and loved his plays, many of which have migrated to TV or film. 

Perhaps because they were so entertaining that he is not often thought of in the same pantheon of our “serious” playwrights such as Arthur Miller, but by sticking with his characters and extensively drawing on his own life, he created meaningful drama, capturing the way people think and talk and experienced angst and love during the 1960s to 1990s.  I think of the Brooklyn of Brighton Beach Memoirs in the 1930s and consider it as dramatically meaningful a place as Grover’s Corners in Our Town at the turn of the century.  Both examine a slice of life so real that by the end of the play, we know these people and the times in which they lived.  The themes are universal, but in the case of Simon’s work, he was able to magically weave laugh out loud humor into his serious dramas.

Time has come, now a couple years after his death at 91, to reevaluate Neil Simon’s works and polish them off with today’s theatrical sensibility, and this is exactly what the Maltz Theatre has done with Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first of his “Eugene Trilogy” his most autobiographical work, which was later followed by Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.

What makes a great playwright?  Simon, in an interview with NPR in 1996, said ‘when I was a young boy - 5 and 6 and 7 years old - my parents would take me to visit their relatives. And for some reason, I think they thought that I was invisible because they never talked to me….I could hear, but they were talking family matters - or gossip or whatever. And I just sat there. And once in a while, they'd give me a cookie or something. And I just listened. It stuck in my head. And what I managed to learn was the way they talked, the choice of words they made, what it was that they were interested in. And years later, without knowing it, when I started to write about these people, I was able to draw on my own memory from what happened in those days.”

That in essence is the foundation of this great play, set in the pre WW II Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.  Because family dynamics are so universal, we see our own family life and foibles.  It is a coming of age play for Eugene, with all of the other characters experiencing some harsh lessons too.  Most poignantly portrayed, is America itself, painfully digging out of a depression, only to be facing the bleak beginning of WW II.

The Maltz production is directed with loving attention by award-winning South Florida director J. Barry Lewis.  He has mined every drop of significance out of Simon’s intentions and infused this play with laughs all along the way.  He is helped enormously by casting one of the most talented assembly of actors we’ve seen in a long time.

Anthony Zambito stars as Eugene

Anthony Zambito gives an award winning portrait of 15 year old Eugene Jerome, vacillating between his fantasies of pitching for the New York Yankees, somehow knowing his destiny as a writer, but meanwhile frequently being sent to the store by his mother for the smallest of items.  “Eugene!” is a constant refrain.  Zambito’s enthusiasm on stage is infectious, frequently breaking the fourth wall, but with a naturalness that makes you know this person and feel he is talking to you as a friend but from another era.  Naturally many in the audience actually remember those times or at least our parents talking about them.  Eugene’s struggle with the joys, vicissitudes and the wonders of puberty are amusingly portrayed by Zambito.

Margery Lowe and Laura Turnbull

Laura Turnbull is Eugene’s mother, Kate, the quintessential harried Jewish housewife.  She freely expresses her views, and prejudices, but it is all in the service of protecting the family she fiercely loves.  Turnbull’s performance is tender and heartfelt, but beneath the veneer, there is a steely anger that eventually erupts.  Her stellar performance is true to life every moment she is on stage. We sympathize with her trying to keep the household together on a shoe string budget, especially after taking in her widowed sister and her two children.  She is the enforcer, especially attempting to keep her two sons on the straight and narrow.  Her major worry is her husband, Jack, who works two jobs to keep his household afloat which also includes Eugene’s older brother, Stanley.

Anthony Zambito and Alex Walton

Kate’s sister, Blanche, is majestically performed by Margery Lowe.  She exhibits a touching uncertainty about her future, how she should raise her two teenage daughters, Laurie and Nora.  She is grateful to her sister, but hates having to be a dependent on an already burdened household.  She is inexperienced in dealing with her teenager’s theatre ambitions as well as with her own lonely life.  This role requires a consummate actress and Lowe delivers.

Daughters Nora and Laurie are played with conviction by Krystal Millie Valdes and Alexa Lasanta.  Valdes gives a performance that increases some of the tension in the play, by wanting to break away from the family to pursue a “Broadway career” and at the same time unconsciously feeding the fantasies of puberty crazed Eugene. 

Avi Hoffman and Alex Walton

Alex Walton as Stanley, Eugene’s older brother, delivers a strong performance as the son who, right after high school has gone into a soulless job to bring in that extra paycheck.  He wants his father’s approval, but is still growing up and making youthful mistakes.  He also acts as a surrogate father aiding in Eugene’s sexual education, with many laughs populating the truths which shock Eugene.

Avi Hoffman plays Jack Jerome, the heavily troubled father, clearly the patriarch of the family, but one with a sense of justice.  When big family decisions are necessary, the family turns to him.  Excepting his fate, he says "when you inherit a family, you inherit their problems." Hoffman is another extraordinary actor, with a long history of experience in the theatre.  It shows.  His portrayal is so natural and yet commanding. 

Krystal Millie Valdes and Margery Lowe

Scenic design is an integral part of making this production such a success.  Scenic designer Anne Mundell creates a three tiered stage, the lowest level representing the outside where some of the scenes take place, the next level the dining and living area, where most of the action transpires, particularly the comic dining room scenes (the liver and mashed potatoes scene is a riot, and rings with truth), and the upper level, where we see two bedrooms, one for the boys, Eugene and Stanley, and another for their cousins, Nora and Laurie.

Costume designer Tracy Dorman has created splendid period costumes, perfectly conjuring up the house dresses worn before the war and a few very colorful ones that brightened up the set.  Blanche’s dress, prior to a date, is a stand out.  Lighting design is by Kirk Bookman and the award-winning resident sound designer is Marty Met.

The Maltz production of Brighton Beach Memoires does justice to Neil Simon as one of the most important playwrights of 20^th century America. 

All photos, except for the program, by Zak Bennett

A Musical Weekend

I’ve said it many times but it bears repeating that one of the very best reasons for living in SE Florida are the myriad cultural opportunities, especially being able to enjoy the music we love most, the Great American Songbook.  Luckily for us, in one weekend alone, we attended two concerts and a jazz jam.

Saturday night Linda Eder performed at the Eissey Campus Theatre.  We’ve heard her over the airways, but have never seen her in concert.  The place was packed, an unusually rainy night, but the concert started right on time.  Ms. Eder, a Minnesotan, is a statuesque, attractive performer, with a powerhouse voice and she’s as comfortable with standards as with Broadway hits.  I would imagine she could handle a Patsy Cline classic as well; she has tremendous range and sensibility.

Her rise to fame began in Frank Wildhorn’s musical Jekyll & Hyde in which she made her Broadway debut, originating the role of Lucy.  She and Wildhorn were married in 1998, and later divorced, but their son who is now 20 is a songwriter. Eder, who collaborated with him on the lyrics, sang one of his songs during the program.  She has recorded a record number of CDs, 18 so far.

Usually when a “diva” is giving a concert we get to know a little about her career, but what I related is about all she told.  Essentially, it was the music, more than a score of songs, too many to list here, but showing her solid versatility and wide range.  A good interview with Eder can be found at this link. 

Her “signature” songs were included, both with rousing standing ovations.  The man sitting next to us related that he’s been following her around the country since 1999, an ardent fan, well understood given her delivery of "Someone Like You" from Jekyll & Hyde, and "Man of La Mancha.”

We loved her rendition of “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard which we saw one New Year’s Eve on Broadway during its opening run.  Other fairly recent Broadway classics included “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables, and “What I Did for Love” from A Chorus Line.  One of my personal favorites, “Losing My Mind” by Stephen Sondheim was particularly appreciated by us.

Standards included hat tips indirectly to Sinatra, with “The Best is Yet to Come,” Just in Time.” and “They Can't Take That Away from Me,” as well as Barbra Streisand classics “Before the Parade Passes Me By” and "The Music That Makes Me Dance."  Those in particular demonstrated Eder’s clear phrasing, something that impressed me as those songs’ lyrics are as important as the music.

Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” was passionately sung, so fitting for this torch song.

Songs not normally heard at such concerts were Henry Mancini’s "Charade" and Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” the latter being sung with a flute accompanist.  Both songs so plaintive, but beautifully sung by Ms. Eder.

Her band was great, a sax, drums, the bass, and a very capable musical director, her pianist, Billy Jay Stein, who had the biggest grin on his face throughout the concert, a man who truly loves his “work.”  Perhaps it helped that his parents who live in Wellington, FL were in the audience and an appropriate acknowledgement was made during the concert.  Eder is a true Diva with a BIG voice.

This segues nicely to the next day, actually late afternoon to catch The Choral Society of the Palm Beaches concert which featured another Diva, the guest artist soprano, Lisa Vroman in a program titled Broadway’s Best; Soaring from Stage to Screen.  

Here she shared the stage with the Choral Society itself, in good form for a few solo numbers and to back up Ms. Vroman.  She also had a fabulous piano accompanist, the Cuban born classical pianist (and teacher) Dr. Erikson Rojas.  She sang a couple of duets with Mark Aliapoulios who is the Artistic Director of The Choral Society of The Palm Beaches.

Unlike Linda Eder, Lisa Vroman tells the audience a little more about her extensive musical history, sharing her Broadway roles and performances with orchestras around the world.  She is a soprano.  Her voice well suited for operatic as well as Broadway roles. One of the major highlights in a long career was playing Christine in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.

This concert had all favorite Broadway numbers, starting with “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair sung by the Choral Society, and then Ms. Vroman making her stage entrance to sing more Rodgers and Hammerstein, the not often performed “I Have Confidence” and then the beloved “Do Re Mi” both from The Sound of Music.  The men in the chorus did a rousing and fun rendition of “There is Nothin’ Like a Dame” from South Pacific.

Ms. Vroman sang a heartfelt rendition of "Till There Was You" by Meredith Willson from his musical play The Music Man.

Then she and the Choral Society presented a number of melodies from one of my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Carousel before the intermission.

Selections from Beauty and the Beast, Hello Dolly, and then songs from Oklahoma served as an inspiring concert conclusion, all songs we’ve heard over and over, and would like to hear over and over again. They are especially moving with a well rehearsed Chorus of voices. Lisa Vroman, and Linda Eder are each in a class of their own.

From the Choral Society, we went directly to the Jupiter Jazz Society Jam at Double Roads to see the guest artist, Jérôme Degey , an impassioned French guitarist who hums the complicated jazz licks as his fingers work the frets.  The audience really gets into the jams and in this case a young couple was dancing a version of the “west coast swing” which I tried to capture for Twitter here.  One can see Degey working in the background.

So, from the Great American Songbook, to Broadway to Jazz, it was a moving weekend, an excellent reset and reflect during this gathering election season storm.

The Self Immolation of the Democratic Party

I am breaking my oath of not wanting to write more about politics, one originally made out of self preservation, the Trump Presidency being so egregiously offensive and yet so blindly praised by his obedient, ardent followers, that it was affecting my health.  It was also made out of extreme cynicism about the whole process, where Tweeting 240 characters can replace planning, thinking.  I’m stunned that our country has stumbled along this far under Trump’s monarchy, but I suppose it has been conditioned to respond well to reality TV material.

But as time went on, and we got through another day, my spirits were slowly being revived knowing that before we know it, we, the American People, will have a chance to cast him off to the garbage heap of dangerous politicians and demagogues.  This, in spite of the failures of Robert Mueller and the Impeachment process, both “hail Mary” passes into the end zone.  Yes, the upcoming election will right all.

Until last night. In full disclosure, my degree of cynicism made me ignore all previous debates.  What is the sense listening to a score of candidates blab their talking points.  Now that the “race” is down to a more manageable number, perhaps this was the moment when I hoped a moderate Democrat could gather some momentum.  Instead, we’re still left with Bernie Sanders, perhaps even more so.

Don’t get me wrong.  I “like” Bernie in many ways, but, as unrealistic as Trump’s tax cuts were, I think Sanders’ proposals will just further drive the national debt to unsustainable levels.  And he is as evangelistic in his demeanor about it as Trump has been about his border issue.  Just what we need facing off in November, two “true believers,” with one being able to call the other a “socialist” or a “communist,” terms as scary to the American electorate as “atheist.”

Bloomberg’s response under the attack by Elizabeth Warren regarding non-disclosure agreements his company may have because of sexual harassment or discrimination issues surprised me.  He should have immediately turned his ire on the legal system rather than trying to respond to her.  In an organization the size of Bloomberg’s, and the ease with which employees can bring suits, there will always be these. Actually, it's a perfect segue to arguing for tort reform.

In any case, it makes no sense for me to analyze the fine differences between the so called “moderate” Democrats (I think all have their hearts in the right place though), but my point is the Democrats are failing to set themselves up strategically.  If they think they can win with Bernie on the ticket, I anticipate a Trump reelection.  My ideal ticket would be along the lines of an Amy Klobuchar for President and someone such as Cory Booker as VP.  My thinking is strictly strategic and with the focus on beating DJT, nothing else.  I know this sounds heedless and cynical, but given how our futures have been compromised, and the Presidency devalued by Trump, that should be the singular goal of the Democratic Party.