(RANDOLPH, NJ) -- Brundage Park Playhouse presents Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon across two weekends from February 12-22, 2026. A perfect coming-of-age comedy, this play follows Eugene Jerome as he navigates the problems that come with being a teenager during the Great Depression.
Here is part one of Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy: a portrait of the writer as a young teen in 1937 living with his family in a crowded, lower middle-class Brooklyn walk-up. Eugene Jerome, standing in for the author, is the narrator and central character.
Dreaming of baseball and girls, Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life in Brooklyn: formidable mother, overworked father, and his worldly older brother Stanley. Throw into the mix his widowed Aunt Blanche, her two young (but rapidly aging) daughters and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style. This bittersweet memoir evocatively captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states "if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here."
Performances take place Thursday, February 12 at 7:00pm; Friday, February 13 at 7:00pm; Sunday, February 15 at 3:00pm; Friday, February 20 at 7:00pm; Saturday, February 21 at 2:00pm; and Sunday, February 22 at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. The theater is located at 2 Bungalow Lane in Randolph, New Jersey.
Brighton Beach Memoirs is recommended for audiences ages 13 and up.
The production is directed by J Cavaliere. The cast includes Josh Corsaro (Eugene), Carol Lucas (Kate), Robin Miller (Blanche), Gregory Mehlin (Stanley), Natalie Crespolini (Nora), Philip Gagliano (Jack), and Cecily Denton (Laurie).
"Hilarious comedy...His finest play...A delightful and enriching experience." - CBS-TV
"Brings a fresh glow to Broadway...In many respects his funniest, richest and consequently the most affecting of his plays." - New York Daily News
"There’s no romanticized gloss on the view of family life; the bonds are intense and unbreakable, yet they come through with all the wrinkles of real life." - Variety
American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon (1927-2018) is widely regarded as one of the most successful, prolific and performed playwrights in theatre history. In addition to Lost In Yonkers, which won a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, his plays and musicals include Come Blow Your Horn, Little Me, Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, Plaza Suite, Promises, Promises, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Gingerbread Lady, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, California Suite, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to be in Pictures, Fools, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, The Odd Couple (female version), Broadway Bound, Rumors, Jake's Women, The Goodbye Girl, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, London Suite, Proposals, Hotel Suite, The Dinner Party, 45 Seconds from Broadway, Oscar and Felix, and Rose's Dilemma.
In addition to the film adaptations he wrote of many of his plays, his screenplay credits include After the Fox, The Out-Of-Towners, The Heartbreak Kid (original 1973 version), Murder by Death, The Cheap Detective, Seems Like Old Times, Only When I Laugh, Max Dugan Returns, The Slugger's Wife, The Marrying Man and The Odd Couple II. Other motion pictures based on stage plays include Come Blow Your Horn, Sweet Charity and The Star-Spangled Girl. For television, Mr. Simon wrote series, teleplays and motion pictures, including The Tallulah Bankhead Show, The Sid Caesar Show, The Phil Silvers Arrow Show, The Phil Silvers Show, The Garry Moore Show, The Trouble with People, ABC's Broadway Bound and Jake’s Women.
Mr. Simon received more Academy and Tony nominations than any other writer. Awards he received include the Pulitzer Prize for Lost In Yonkers, Emmy Awards for The Sid Caesar Show and The Phil Silvers Show, Tony Awards for The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues, Lost In Yonkers and a special Tony Award For Overall Contribution To The Theatre. His nominations include Tony Award Nominations for Little Me, Barefoot in the Park, Plaza Suite, Promises, Promises, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound, Lost in Yonkers and The Goodbye Girl (musical). Other nominations include a Writers Guild Screen Award for The Odd Couple and The Out-Of-Towners, a Writers Guild Laurel Award, an American Comedy Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Writers Guild Screen Award Nomination for Barefoot in the Park, as well as an Oscar Nomination for The Odd Couple, an Evening Standard Award, a Sam S. Shubert Foundation Award, Kennedy Center Honors, a UCLA Medal, a Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award and a William Inge Theater Festival Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater.
Brundage Park Playhouse is sponsored by the Randolph Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services. It had its beginning in the fall of 1978 when the Randolph Recreation Committee approved the Randolph community theater program.
They provide a wide range of theatrical experiences including major productions, children’s theater, performing arts classes and several summer theater camp programs. During the course of their seasons you can expect to see a wide variety of main stage shows including productions designed specifically for children (For Kids By Kids), comedies, dramas, musicals, classical works, innovative contemporary plays: in short, something for everyone.
