Photo by Joy Daunis
Dany Margolies – The Daily News
Theatergoers are rarely able to observe characters growing up over the course of several plays. Shakespeare’s Prince Hal provides one notable exception. Playwright Neil Simon offers another. In his Brighton Beach Memoirs, we met Eugene Jerome, the hilariously genial youngster in 1940s New York, torn between becoming a professional baseball player and becoming a famous writer.Read more…
Now running through Oct. 11.
Photo by Enci
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter
The last of Neil Simon’s trilogy of quasi-autobiographical accounts of his coming-of-age years in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, Broadway Bound stands among his plays as perhaps the most free from easy nostalgia, and therefore the most honest. In this sturdy 1986 drama, the requisite comedy arrives more or less organically, out of family humor or professional drive and ambition, and even seemingly harmless jokes can have unforeseen consequences for the wisecrackers and those they love. Looking toward posterity, this may be Simon’s best. Read more…
Jonas Schwartz - Arts In LA
Jason Alexander, co-star of the original Broadway cast of Broadway Bound, directs this nostalgic piece with enough pathos and humor to stir audiences’ hearts. Led by the sensitive actor Gina Hecht, the top-caliber cast mines Neil Simon’s jokes for all their potency, while remaining grounded in this touching memoir of a family collapsing. Read more…
Bob Verini - Stage Raw
Broadway Bound, the 1986 final installment in Neil Simon’s avowedly autobiographical trilogy that began with Brighton Beach Memoirs, receives a warm and affectionate revival at the Odyssey. Maybe too warm, though not too warm for comfort.
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Now playing through September 21.