Eugene trilogy

The Eugene Trilogy refers to three plays written by Neil Simon, the "quasi-autobiographical trilogy"[1] Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.[2]

History

The trilogy tells the story of Eugene Jerome from his adolescence in New York City, to his time spent in basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi during World War II, and finally to the beginning of his career as an aspiring comedy writer. The trilogy is a semi-autobiographical account of Neil Simon's own early life and career.

In an interview in 1986, Simon said: "'Brighton Beach' was going to be another singular play....Again, I still hadn't thought of a trilogy. But I decided to take Eugene the next step chronologically in my life, which was the army. But even after I wrote 'Biloxi Blues', I still didn't think about a sequel, because if it turned out to be a bomb, why would one want to do a sequel? So I just waited to see what would happen. Well, Biloxi enjoyed enormous success, and I thought of a third part".[3]

Stage

Brighton Beach Memoirs premiered on Broadway on March 22, 1983;[4] Biloxi Blues premiered on Broadway on March 28, 1985[5] and Broadway Bound premiered on Broadway on December 4, 1986.[6]

Film

Brighton Beach Memoirs[7][8] and Biloxi Blues[9] were made into films, while Broadway Bound was adapted as a made-for-TV movie.[10] On screen the role of Eugene Jerome was played by Jonathan Silverman in Brighton Beach Memoirs (he also played Stanley in the film version of Broadway Bound),[7] Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues (he also played Eugene in the Broadway productions of both Brighton Beach and Biloxi Blues),[9] and Corey Parker in Broadway Bound.[10] In a 1992 interview, Simon explained that Broadway Bound was not adapted as a theatrical film like the previous two works in the trilogy for the reason that it "was too expensive for the big screen, because it required extensive outdoor period sets of New York City."[11]

Play Original stage actor Film Film actor
Brighton Beach Memoirs Matthew Broderick Brighton Beach Memoirs Jonathan Silverman
Biloxi Blues Matthew Broderick Biloxi Blues Matthew Broderick
Broadway Bound Jonathan Silverman Broadway Bound Corey Parker

References
  1. Kroll, Jack. "It Only Hurts When I Laugh", Newsweek, December 15, 1986, The Arts; Theater; p.76
  2. Geier, Thom. "The Neil Simon Plays. 'Brighton Beach memoirs' ew.com (webcache), October 26, 2009
  3. Base, Ron. "Comedy writer Neil Simon is a serious success", The Toronto Star, December 27, 1986, p.H1
  4. "'Brighton Beach Memoirs' Listing" Internet Broadway Database Listing, accessed April 13, 2012
  5. "'Biloxi Blues' Listing" Internet Broadway Database, accessed April 13, 2012
  6. "'Broadway Bound' Listing" Internet Broadway Database, accessed April 13, 2012
  7. "'Brighton Beach Memoirs'" suntimes.com, December 25, 1986
  8. "Listing" Internet Movie Database, accessed April 13, 2012
  9. Ebert, Roger. "'Biloxi Blues'" Archived 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine suntimes.com, March 25, 1988
  10. Erickson, Hal. "'Broadway Bound' (1992)" movies.nytimes.com, accessed April 13, 2012
  11. "A Life in the Theater". Conversations with Neil Simon. University Press of Mississippi. 2019. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-4968-2290-1.
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