MOTHER'S DAY: Rosemary Orlando, shown with Ricky Cona as Eugene, owns Stageworks' Broadway Bound, a bittersweet chapter in Neil Simon's coming-of-age trilogy. Credit: Karla Hartley

MOTHER’S DAY: Rosemary Orlando, shown with Ricky Cona as Eugene, owns Stageworks’ Broadway Bound, a bittersweet chapter in Neil Simon’s coming-of-age trilogy. Credit: Karla Hartley


Sometimes you watch something that makes you laugh and, along the way if it makes you think, well, that’s OK, as long as you can keep laughing. Stageworks’ production of Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound offers laughter mixed with a touch more melancholy than you’d expect from most Simon shows, but in the end, it works, and it works well.

Broadway Bound deals with some painful truths — those moments when mom and dad are unquestionably broken, when grandpa keeps getting older, when we realize growing up means change and all change is not created equal. But the best comedy comes from tragedy, and, given the choice between laughing and crying, Neil Simon always lets us laugh. Almost.

We embrace such moments in this production for another reason: Because the actors make us feel what they feel. No one does this better in Broadway Bound than Rosemary Orlando, who plays Kate, Eugene and Stanley’s mother.

The trilogy’s first two plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues, tell Eugene’s story: A young, lower-middle class Jewish New Yorker growing up in the middle of the last century. Eugene — a thinly veiled self-portrait of Simon — comes of age in the first two plays, but Broadway Bound offers us deeper insight into his family. And, as we look at Eugene’s family, we find ourselves drawn more to Kate’s story than Eugene’s. Orlando plays Kate flawlessly and draws such empathy and respect from the audience that the play feels like an elegy to her (or, more to the point, to Simon’s mother) and her choices. 

That does not stop the laughter; this play, overall, has a superb cast. If occasionally Paul Finocchiaro (Jack) stumbles over a line or if the lighting reveals Greg Thompson (Ben) to have makeup issues (the old man makeup was two tones lighter than his neck and hands), Orlando gives a through-line that pulls the play along. 

We embrace these moments for another reason: Because the actors make us feel what they feel.

Erik Haak and Karla Hartley worked together on a well-planned set, and the other production values (costumes, lights, props and the like) all work as they should, which is to say the audience doesn’t notice them. 

As to the acting: No question remains that Orlando owns this show, but the rest of the cast each offers rich characters as well. It’s disappointing we don’t see more of Heather Krueger’s Blanche; one of the show’s two loveliest scenes is one where Krueger and Orlando establish their relationship as sisters. Eugene and Stanley, played by Ricky Cona and Spencer Meyers, respectively, are, at this juncture in the trilogy, already well-defined  characters. Cona, who has played Eugene in all three of Stageworks’ productions (over the past eight years), slips easily into his role, as does Meyers.

What may surprise audiences unfamiliar with the play is that this story has more to do with the poignancy of life than pithy asides about growing up Jewish. It pushes the limits of laughter, tempering it at times with sadness and heartbreak, but somewhere near the surface, laughter always lurks. 

This article appears in May 5-11, 2016.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...