Neil Simon, the most successful and prolific playwright of the 20th century died on August 26, 2018 at the age of 91. The New Theatre had already included Broadway Bound in its season line-up last year. He is considered a comedic genius for his work, like all the best comedy, is threaded with pain. As Simon himself said, “If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven’t been born yet.”
Broadway Bound is the last play in the semi-autobiographical trilogy begun with Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. It begins with the efforts of Eugene Jerome (a charming Patrick Holman) and his older brother Stanley (an energetic Simon Lee) to launch a career as a comedy writing team. It has a slightly sentimental air but stands up as a family in crisis. At the centre is a loving, giving, Jewish mother Kate Jerome (Suzann James). Is she an archetype? – well yes but James’ performance raises her above that. Her beautifully nuanced work becomes the spine of the production, bringing levels of humour, despair and pathos to the show. She takes refuge in housework and being a mother and these become her weapons.
Kate’s memory of once having danced with George Raft at the Primrose Ballroom is cherished silently until one night, Eugene coaxes it out of her in the play’s most delicate scene. Kate tells of the magic, exotic moment which has made her humdrum life bearable and relives it with her youngest son. Holman and James make warm use of this remembrance – it is sweet and loving without being mawkish.
Certainly the most powerful scene of this production is that between Kate and her husband Jack Jerome (Brett Heath), dealing with the fragmenting of their 33 year marriage. Here the couple play out the sadness which threads through the play. It is in this scene we see the truth which underpins Neil Simon’s work and which makes it so very relatable. As James and Heath work through the disintegration of their marriage we are uncomfortably aware of the familiarity of it all – although Heath does not quite match James in the anguish stakes.
On the night of Eugene and Stanley’s radio debut on CBS, an angry Jack sees the sketch as holding up the family to ridicule despite assurances from the boys that everyone in the neighbourhood thinks it is about them. The intended irony of the scene is not lost, however, it is here where the energy falters. The boys are excited, full of nervous anticipation. This reads the same as their reaction to the pressure to write, so overall, there is a sort of one-note quality to the way the boys operate throughout the play. The relationship needs more light and shade, the moments of conflict need to sit more sharply against the moments of affection.
The family is rounded out with sure performances from Les Asmussen as the boys 77 year old Trotskyite grandfather and source of comedy material, and Susan Jordan as Blanche Morton – Kate’s wealthy sister at odds with her father for living on Park Avenue and apparently betraying her working class roots.
Director Rosane McNamara has given us a solid production, if a little safe. Both the set (Allan Walpole) and costumes (David Marshall-Martin) place us firmly in time and place with a working class texture and palette. It is a script that reminds us the writing comes from that which we know, and that if we have some problems with our lives, that “living is the best thing they’ve come up with so far”.
Kate Stratford – On The Town
Photo © Chris Lundie
Broadway Bound
Neil Simon
13 Nov – 15 Dec 2018
Previews (13 & 14 November) 7:30pm
Thursday – Saturday 7:30pm
Sunday 5pm
Saturday 15 December 2pm only
Venue: New Theatre
Theatre Company: New Theatre
Duration: N/A
