Have old-fashioned fun at the 'Beach'

Brighton Beach Memoirs provides the theater-hungry student with something that is often missing from the Princeton stage — a good ol’ family drama.

Here are the kids. Here are their parents. They’re all struggling with responsibility, dreams, money and love — the stuff of our own families’ pasts and presents. A script written by Neil Simon and undertaken by talented, dedicated performers is a simple formula for great theater.

Eugene Morris Jerome — played by Jordan Adelson ’14 — age 14, introduces us to a Jewish middle-class family finding its place in 1930s Brooklyn, N.Y., and contending with an increasingly frightening reality across the ocean. Over the course of the play, Eugene expresses his own hopes for the future and faces his budding sexual desires, all while observing the familial struggles and triumphs of his parents, his older brother, his widowed aunt and his cousins.

Adelson, perfectly cast, gives Eugene a sense of wide-eyed excitement and innocence as he provides the audience with a friendly guided tour of the tension-filled Jerome household. Even in the most anxious moments of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Adelson brings a vibrancy and humor to Eugene’s running commentary, which keeps the audience at ease when encountering his family’s woes.

Adelson’s buoyant energy is evident in some of the other stellar performances, most notably those of Matthew Seely ’14 as his brother Stanley and Sarah Paton ’13 as his cousin Nora. Seely brings a sharp intensity to his character, a recent high school graduate working to supplement the family income. With a dedicated embrace of the part both physical and emotional — Seely (a likely age-mate of many viewers) makes a poignant impact on the audience in every one of his scenes. Paton brings high but well-moderated energy to Nora, embodying the “beautiful older cousin,” as the playbill calls her, as an appealing and relatable teenager, even at her most angsty.

Somewhat less convincing are Amy Gopinathan ’14 as Eugene’s mother, Kate, and Kathy Harwood ’12 as his aunt, Blanche. While Gopinathan gets the Brooklyn Jewish accent down pat, her movements suggest a china doll much more than a strong, classic Neil Simon matriarch. Harwood is clearly earnest as the lost widow trying to break out from under her magnanimous family’s wing, but her struggles with the accent and distinct tone make it hard to find her convincing.

The set, designed by Aryeh Stein-Azen ’13, is impressively agile for the small Intime space, featuring an upstairs consisting of two bedrooms above a living room and dining room below. The two layers expand the stage while retaining an intimacy with the audience essential for a family drama.

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a classic Neil Simon play with something for everyone. Under the steady hand of Emma Watt ’13, this production allows any Princetonian in need of a funny and heartwarming night out the opportunity to get cozy at Intime and have a relaxed, good ol’ time.