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| Brighton Beach Memoirs Cast |
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| Bottom row LtoR: Betty, Mark, Diane. Top: Maggie, Aaron, Colin, Emily |
The cast includes Aaron Chase (Eugene), Betty Kristan (Blanche), Diane Pollard
(Kate), Maggie Pollard (Laurie), Emily Langille (Nora), Collin Howder (Stanley), Mark Patrick (Jack).
| Brighton Beach Memoirs Director - Matt Carr |
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Pickwick Players Theater Production receives 3 1/2 stars out of four from Telegram
and Gazette Theater Reviewer; Paul Kolas (10/18/05)
‘Brighton Beach’ shines in Pickwick Players
show
WHITINSVILLE— One suspects that Neil Simon developed his marvelous
sense of humor and sharp ear for dialogue as a way of coping with his formative years growing up in Brooklyn.
That
certainly is the prevailing impression one receives from watching Matthew Carr’s perceptively directed production of
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” at Pickwick Players’ Upstage Theatre in Whitinsville on Saturday night. What is
especially satisfying about this intimately funny and moving portrait of a struggling Jewish family in 1937 is how the Upstage
Theatre’s multi-angled viewing facility makes one feel even more drawn into Eugene Morris Jerome’s adolescent
world.
Call “Brighton Beach Memoirs” a serious comedy or a comic drama, but in either case, Pickwick
Players serves it memorably.
| Eugene Morris Jerome |
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| Aaron Chase |
Rehearsing - how to you get to a 3 1/2 star? Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse -
And in Eugene's Case - it's practice, practice, practice as this 15 year old dreams of playing center field someday for
the New York Yankees -or- become a writer just in case.
| Blance |
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| Betty Kristan |
Blance, the seamstress, has been living with Kate and her family ever since her husband Dave died. .... Speaking
of dying - Jeff St. Jean, the Stage Manager (& I, the webmaster) must have killed quite a few fingers trying to get
that "antique" sewing machine inserted into the cabinet...
| Jack |
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| Mark Patrick |
Here is Mark taking a short nap ;-) Jack, is the breadwinner who keeps the family going forward while carrying
the weight of the world. As Jack says, "if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't live in this house!".
Maegan Pollard, for her part, portrays Laurie with an observant regard for the family dynamic surrounding her.
(T&G review)
| Kate & Laurie |
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| Diane Pollard and her real Daughter Maegan |
| Showtime - |
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| Aaron Chase & Collin Howder |
Stan explaining to his little brother, Jerome - the facts of life ... and even POP!
T&G review; "Aaron Chase brings this precocious bundle of hormones to life in a performance that
gets all the essential details right: Eugene’s dreamy crush on his cousin Nora; his deft ability to negotiate his way
around the constant demands of his tough love mother, Kate; his conspiratorially affectionate relationship with his older
brother, Stanley; and best of all, his confidential addresses to us, the audience.
As Chase plays him, it’s
impossible not to like Eugene, or to identify with his secret yearnings and pubescent curiosity. What one carries away, movingly,
from Howder’s reading of Stanley is a melancholic undertone of regret for missed opportunities he wants Eugene to avoid
duplicating. Collin Howder, as Stanley, acts with a steady naturalness that complements Chase’s hyperbolic
style extremely well. One feels a real affinity between these two: the younger brother looking up to his older, more experienced,
and presumably wiser brother to educate him in the ways of the world."
| Diane Pollard |
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| Betty Kristan |
These two will make you laugh then bring tears to your eyes with some strong performances. T&G
Review; "Diane Pollard is wonderfully authentic as Kate, skillfully walking the fine line between willfulness and vulnerability
as she orders Eugene to run an errand to Greenblatt’s grocery store or eat his liver at dinner, confronts her sister,
Blanche, about all the sacrifices she’s had to make at the expense of her own desires, or worries about husband Jack’s
declining health. Pollard skillfully delineates Kate’s matriarchal persona as well as her long buried resentments about
Blanche being the favored sister when they were growing up.
Betty Kristan effectively counters Pollard’s vigorous
Jewish matron with a performance of calibrated understatement as Blanche, who along with her two daughters, Nora and Laurie,
has been living with Kate and her family ever since her husband Dave died. Kristan does a nice job of conveying Blanche’s
diffident personality and guilt over her reliance on Kate for support. You feel her pain on those rare occasions when she
dares to raise her normally quiet emotional temperature. "
| Maegan Pollard, Betty, & Emily Langille |
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Aside from the actors - the stage and props is what brings a play to life. Where do we find such things as this
"collectable" singer sewing machine? My grandmother & mother had one of these that went to good use in 'dem days!".
| Emily as Nora & Maegan as Laurie |
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Sibling rivalry is a theme that embraces several in this extended
family. Nora feels that her younger sister, Laurie, is also favored by her mother, since she has a heart murmur. Nora’s
resentment is intensified by her mother’s refusal to let her try out for a Broadway show. Emily Langille is so warm
and vibrant as Nora, it’s no wonder her cousin would have a crush on her. When she tearfully accuses her mother of not
loving her, Langille and Kristan play out this mini-drama with searing emotion.
| Collin Howder as Stan & Mark Patrick as Jack |
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T&G Review; One certainly feels the weight of the world upon Jack’s weary shoulders in
Mark Patrick’s wise, finely wrought and soulful interpretation of him. Jack is the kind of father a son like Stanley
can come to and confide in without fear of retribution, someone who can remember his own young man’s foolishness, and
Patrick portrays him with deeply felt clarity.
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More scenes from the show
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| Mark & Diane |
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| Emily & Maegan |
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| Aaron & Collin |
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| Betty & Diane |
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