Black Hills Playhouse: ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’
By Eric Lochridge
Black Hills Playhouse opens its 2009 season with Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” Thursday, June 11, and runs through Sunday, June 21. For more information or to buy tickets, go to http://www.blackhillsplayhouse.com/.
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Tags: Black Hills Playhouse, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Neil Simon
June 11th, 2009 at 10:34 am
A Review
With the mere twinkle of his eye, Eugene Jerome conveys all of the wonder a 15 year-old boy can feel as he weaves his way through the day-to-day struggles of family-life in 1937 Brooklyn. Played by a wonderfully cast Grant Prewitt, the story of Eugene and his extended family in “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, the semi-autobiographical comedy by legendary playwright Neil Simon, opens the 64th season of The Black Hills Playhouse. The Playhouse treated a full-house of patrons and Custer State Park staff to a preview Tuesday evening, in preparation for their June 11th opening night.
Prewitt, a college graduate with a theatre degree from the University of Missouri Kansan City is spot-on in his depiction of a teenage boy who is preoccupied with sex and baseball, in that order. The play follows the extended Jerome family, led by Jack (actor Herman Johansen), Kate (Jan Chapman) and includes Eugene’s brother Stanley (Sam Wright), cousins Laurie (Stephanie Garett) and Nora (McKenna Liesman) and Aunt Blanche (Anna Gangai). The Playhouse is known for holding nation-wide talent searches for its cast members, and it once again will be treating audiences to the type of theatre that is rarely seen outside of major metropolitan areas. Each of these actors brings a plethora of experience to the Playhouse stage, and it shows. Johansen especially demonstrates incredible range as both an empathetic family man and typical harassed Jewish head-of-the-house. Liesman plays the beautiful Nora with the perfect blend of innocence and longing for a wider world. Chapman and Gangai play sisters sharing a house and making it a home, and you would swear it was the depression listening to them make ends meet on a meager budget. Their fight in Act II is typical of many a family, and only needs a bit of variety in the cadence to make it a blockbuster. And finally, both Garett and Wright take roles that could be lost in the strong personalities of the rest of the Jerome family and make them their own. It is a tight, well-balanced cast without a weak link.
“They” say in theatre that if they play is a success, no one remembers the director – and if it is a flop everyone remembers. In that case, it is important to thank the director, Ron Schaeffer, for the gift he gives us in “Brighton Beach Memoirs”. Summer stock theatre means short rehearsal times, with limited hours to put a show together. Schaeffer hits a homerun with this production – one that would make young Eugene proud. The same can be said of set designer Evan Hill. When you walk into the Playhouse the set greets you like an old friend, and you may remember many of those pieces, those photographs from your grandparent’s houses. In a limited space he has built a home, complete with bedrooms for seven individuals, a dining room, living room, front porch, and full staircase. Even the front porch light is on and inviting you in. Like any good set, you quickly forget about it, and it simply becomes the eighth character in the play, doing its part. It is a masterpiece.
There were the usual small hitches that accompany any preview or opening night. A few words were lost, a few lines delivered too fast. Eugene’s makeup needs to be blended and Stanley’s haircut is definitely not 1937, but these are minor and for the most part will disappear during the run of the show. All in all, “Brighton Beach” is a delight.
This spring and early summer there has been much press about the location of the Black Hills Playhouse and its lease agreement within the Park. Tuesday night’s preview of “Brighton Beach Memoirs” reminded the audience that it is the art of theatre that is the most important part of the Playhouse, and assured us that no matter where the location – the theatre will persevere.
The comedy runs through June 21st.
June 13th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I had a chance to catch Grant Prewitt in a theatrical presentation while on business in Kansas City and knew that his is a name that is destined for great things to come on stage and perhaps, even on the big screen.
June 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I have attended the playhouse since it was in a tent. This is one of the truly fine productions to have been mounted on that stage. The set, costumes, lighting and acting are superb. Ron Schaeffer has indeed put together a high quality production not to be missed. I went back for a second time and again at curtain call audiences were on their feet immediately. What a fine production!
June 17th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Very happy to see that BHP is still creating quality theater. I hope it continues to flourish — it’s a unique space and a great location.