Eugene's younger cousin, has heart problems with Kate Jerome, about 40: Eugene's mother, a strong Jewish matriarch and Jacob "Jack" Jerome, about 40: Eugene's father Awards and nominations Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play (Broderick, winner; Ivanek, nominee) Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Franz, nominee) Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (winner) Theatre World Award (Broderick, winner) Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (nominee) Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play (Broderick, nominee) New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play (winner) Jewish culture Because of Neil Simon’s Jewish background and upbringing, much of his work, Brighton Beach Memoirs being a clear example, is semi-autobiographical. Simon infused Jewish humor into Brighton Beach Memoirs and represented Jewish culture in a way that many Jews found comforting and reminiscent of their families. Through his characters, Simon also showed real American Jews what they looked like, offering "an unsettling mirror: one in which we watched our community identify as Jews only in the most cursory ways, through humor and cultural touchstones". Reception Reviews for the original Broadway production were mixed. Clive Barnes of the New York Post called Brighton Beach Memoirs Simon's "best play yet" but also "a slight disappointment" because the playwright "always pulls back from the jugular." Frank Rich of the New York Times judged the play to be "a pleasant evening" that "never quite stops being nice and starts being either consistently involving or entertaining." Nevertheless, the play was popular with Broadway audiences and had a long and successful run. When the play was not nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, producer Emanuel Azenberg called the snub "an outrageous injustice" and "a personal insult," and Variety published an editorial declaring "Neil Simon Deserves Better." In 1983 Dolores Dolan of The New York Times said that after it achieved popularity on Broadway, the community of Brighton Beach "attracted some notice" when it had historically "receive[d] little attention". Film adaptation In 1986 the play was adapted into a movie directed by Gene Saks with the screenplay by Neil Simon. The cast featured Jonathan Silverman (Eugene), Blythe Danner (Kate), Bob Dishy (Jack), Lisa Waltz (Nora), Brian Drillinger (Stanley), Stacey Glick (Laurie), and Judith Ivey (Blanche). The film frequently breaks the fourth wall by having Eugene speak directly to the camera. Roger Ebert,