David Cromer Talks 'NEIL SIMON PLAYS' Closing with The New York Times

BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS, the first of THE Neil Simon PLAYS will close Sunday, November 1st. Directed by David Cromer, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS opened on Sunday, October 25th at the Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). Brighton Beach Memoirs will have played 9 performances and 25 previews.

David Cromer discussed the sudden closing with The New York Times via a phone interview this afternoon and told the paper that he was "not entirely surprised" when he was given the news.

Cromer explained to The Times that; "I actually thought we got enough good reviews for ‘Brighton Beach' to sell some tickets, but the audience just didn't build. We did it as well as we could, and people didn't get excited enough to come. I believe this could have just as easily gone through the roof with exactly the same set of circumstances. So we're all trying to figure out what went wrong." To read the entire article click here.

BROADWAY BOUND, which was scheduled to join BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS in repertory on November 18th, 2009, has been canceled. 

Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound were two of the longest running Broadway plays of the 1980s. The works ushered in a new era of appreciation for Neil Simon, with praise for the playwright's hilarious and poignant account of his adolescence, early career and family life in New York in the 1930s and 1940s.

Brighton Beach Memoirs originally opened on March 27, 1983 at the Alvin Theatre and played for 1,299 performances. (During the run of Brighton Beach Memoirs, the Alvin Theatre was renamed The Neil Simon Theatre). Broadway Bound opened on December 4, 1986 at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it played for 756 performances.

Brighton Beach Memoirs stars Laurie Metcalf (Kate Jerome) and Dennis Boutsikaris (Jack Jerome) with Santino Fontana (Stanley Jerome), Jessica Hecht (Blanche), Gracie Bea Lawrence (Laurie), Noah Robbins (Eugene Jerome) and Alexandra Socha (Nora).

Broadway Bound was to star Laurie Metcalf (Kate Jerome) and Dennis Boutsikaris (Jack Jerome) with Santino Fontana (Stanley Jerome), Jessica Hecht (Blanche), Josh Grisetti (Eugene Jerome) and Allan Miller (Ben).

Brighton Beach Memoirs centers on young Jewish teen Eugene Morris Jerome and his extended family living in a crowded home in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn in the late 1930s: his overworked father, Jack; overbearing mother, Kate; his older brother Stanley; Kate's widowed sister Blanche and her daughters, Nora and Laurie. As Eugene spends his time daydreaming about a baseball career, he must also cope with his family's troubles, his awkward discovery of the opposite sex and his developing identity as a writer.

In Broadway Bound, it's the late 1940s and Eugene and Stanley have started their careers as professional comedy writers. But when the brothers use their home life in Brighton Beach as inspiration for a radio comedy skit, the Jerome family may never be the same.

Scenic design is by John Lee Beatty, costume design is by Jane Greenwood, lighting design is by Brian MacDevitt and sound design is by Josh Schmidt and Fitz Patton. Hair and wig design is by Tom Watson.

THE Neil Simon PLAYS are produced by Ira Pittelman, Max Cooper, Jeffrey Sine, Scott Delman, Ruth Hendel, Roy Furman, Ben Sprecher/Wendy Federman, Scott Landis and Emanuel Azenberg.

Director David Cromer is currently represented in New York with the critically acclaimed revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre. His other New York credits include Adding Machine, for which he received a 2008 Obie Award, and Orson's Shadow. His Chicago directing credits include Picnic (Writers), Come Back, Little Sheba (Shattered Globe), Cider House Rules (Famous Door) and Angels in America (Journeymen) among others. His regional credits include Glass Menagerie at Kansas City Rep and Farnsworth Invention, SantaLand Diaries and Orson's Shadow at Alley Theatre.

Photo by Joan Marcus

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