Broadway Bound

"Broadway Bound" is a play by Neil Simon. Last one in a series of three, together with the other autobiographical works ("Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues"), they make up the "Eugene Trilogy."

The play is about Eugene and his older brother, Stanley, dealing with their parents' relationship falling apart as they are working together to becoming aspiring comedy writers for the radio, and, eventually, television. They discover that their father, Jack, has been cheating on their mother Kate. It is obvious to the family before Jack even admits it, and they try to find ways for Kate to cope with the loss when Jack may eventually leave. Jack reveals that the woman he has been seeing is dying.

When Eugene and Stanley find a job where they can write short comedic skits for the radio, they obscurely make fun of their own family. Jack can hear the similarities between the fictional family in the broadcast and their own family, and becomes outraged. He gets into a major argument with Stanley, which turns to an argument about Jack's affair. Later, Kate holds a nostalgic conversation with Eugene, revealing how she had tried to win his father's heart when she was younger.

Eventually, Jack leaves. Stanley and Eugene move out the house when they are offered a bigger opportunity to success. Kate lives alone in the house with her father (an elderly Jewish man with socialist leanings who provides the play with most of its warmth and humor).

The play was made into a TV movie in 1992, starring Anne Bancroft and Hume Cronyn.

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