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GROSSE POINTE WOODS — While “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “Biloxi Blues” are fairly well known, the third of playwright Neil Simon’s Eugene trilogy, “Broadway Bound,” isn’t as familiar to audiences.
That’s one of the reasons Laura Ver Beek, of Grosse Pointe Park, wanted to stage this show for Grosse Pointe Theatre, which will produce “Broadway Bound” from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5 in the auditorium of Parcells Middle School in Grosse Pointe Woods.
“I love Neil Simon,” Ver Beek said. “This is, I think, one of his best-written plays.”
The semi-autobiographical show is about two young-adult brothers — Eugene (who’s based on Simon) and Stanley Jerome — who are on the verge of breaking into comedy as their parents’ marriage crumbles. Unlike some of Simon’s more farcical plays, Ver Beek said this one is a dramatic comedy.
The play is set in Brooklyn in 1949. A single set — the family home — is used for the entire show.
“(We’re) presenting a play where you feel as if you’re peeking into someone else’s living room,” Ver Beek said. “I wanted to create a very intimate and believable performance. And yet, Eugene breaks the fourth wall, so you have this nice juxtaposition.”
“Breaking the fourth wall” refers to an acknowledgement that the audience is watching a show, such as when a character addresses the audience directly.
Amy Choudhury Martin, of Sterling Heights, plays Kate Jerome, the family matriarch and mother of Stanley and Eugene. Choudhury Martin said she was drawn to Kate’s humanity, sadness and “the love she has for her family.”
“I’m a mother, too, so I can relate to that,” Choudhury Martin said.
Despite the show’s period setting and location, she said the tale is still something that speaks to audiences today.
“The accents are different, the costumes are different, but the topics are the same,” Choudhury Martin said of a show that looks at marital strife, caring for elderly family members and parents about to become empty nesters.
The cast also includes Phillip Potter, of St. Clair Shores; Robbie Mullinger, of Grosse Pointe Park; Carl Ghafari, of Grosse Pointe Shores; Rebekah Sellers, of Harrison Township; and Jerry Nehr, of Detroit. Ver Beek said Ghafari and Mullinger have done musicals before, but this is their first nonmusical, and both are doing stellar work.
“I have six incredible actors,” Ver Beek said.
She said she also has an incredible crew, which includes Grosse Pointe North High School Theater Director Michael A. Gravame, of Detroit, as the costume designer.
“He’s a real stickler for detail and accuracy, so the details are down,” Ver Beek said. “Everything is period-perfect, looks just right — down to our props.”
Choudhury Martin said “Broadway Bound” is both funny and touching.
“The set’s going to be amazing,” Choudhury Martin said. “The costumes are amazing. We have a great director. I think it’s going to be a great experience (for audiences). You’ll laugh and you’ll cry. And maybe they might see some things in their own life and relate to it.”
Ver Beek is making her GPT main stage directing debut with this show, having directed “Love, Loss and What I Wore” for GPT’s black box studio arm, the Purdon Studio Theatre. She said directing isn’t about telling actors how to say their lines or where to stand. Instead, it is about getting them to delve into their characters and respond naturally to their fellow actors onstage.
“That’s what we do in life — we behave spontaneously,” Ver Beek said.
“Broadway Bound” opened on Broadway on Dec. 4, 1986. GPT last produced this show in 1995. Ver Beek said it was “time to do it again.”
“I think our audiences will become very, very immersed in the story,” Ver Beek said. “They’ll lose track of where they are. And there will be a lot of tears shed, and there will be belly laughs, because they’re both in this play.”
Parcells Middle School is located at 20600 Mack Ave. in Grosse Pointe Woods. Tickets cost $30 per person. For tickets or more information, visit www.gpt.org or call the GPT box office at (313) 881-4004.
