Back in Brighton

The year is 1948, the scene is Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood, and Neil Simon is the playwright. All of this can only mean that Eugene Jerome, the hapless but goodhearted stand-in for Simon himself, is back for another go-around. After surviving adolescence (in Brighton Beach Memoirs) and the US Army (Biloxi Blues), Eugene prepares to embark on a career in show business. With his brother Stanley, Eugene writes a skit good enough to air on the radio. But even as success rears its golden head, his family – a source of both torment and comfort – is falling apart. It ain’t easy growing up, but at least with Neil Simon at the helm, there're laughs to go with the growing pains. The New Jewish Theatre presents Broadway Bound at the Jewish Community Center (2 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Coeur; 314-442-3283 or www.newjewishtheatre.org); show times are 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday (October 10 through 28), and tickets are $20 to $28.
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays. Starts: Oct. 10. Continues through Oct. 28, 2007