''Brooklyn Boy'' is a play by American playwright

Donald Margulies Donald Margulies (born September 2, 1954) is an American playwright and academic. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play ''Dinner with Friends''. Background and education Margulies attended John Dewey High School in Brookly ...

. The play premiered in 2004 at

South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory (SCR) is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Direc ...

and then on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 2005.

Plot

Novelist Eric Weiss, critically celebrated but unsuccessful, "arrives" when his new, autobiographical novel becomes a best-seller. An outsider all his life, he is suddenly on the inside of everything: town cars, television studios, the Sunday book review. But as his career takes off, his personal life stutters. His father lies ill in Maimonides Hospital, Jewish

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

's version of the

river Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

, wondering when Eric will produce his first grandchild. His former friends and neighbors in Brooklyn celebrate his success while simultaneously being suspicious about his attitude toward them–in life and in his novel. And his success, rather than oiling the waters of his marriage, troubles them for him and his writer-wife.

Characters

* Eric Weiss * Manny Weiss, Eric's father * Ira Zimmerman, an old school friend * Nina, Eric's wife * Alison, a young university student * Melanie Fine, a movie producer * Tyler Shaw, a young actor

Productions

''Brooklyn Boy'' is Margulies' first work for the stage since winning the

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

with his ''

Dinner with Friends ''Dinner with Friends'' is a play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in 1999. The play received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Plot Gabe and Karen, a happily m ...

''. Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan, who directed

's production of ''Dinner with Friends'' returned to South Coast Repertory,

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

, to direct the world premiere of ''Brooklyn Boy''. This was a co-production by South Coast Repertory and the

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has gr ...

, and was commissioned by SCR and developed at the company's 2003

Pacific Playwrights Festival The Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), a national forum for playwrights and theatre leaders, is dedicated to developing and producing new American plays. It is held every summer at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. Within the Am ...

. The play ran from September 10, 2004, to October 10, 2004. The cast starred

Adam Arkin Adam Arkin (born August 19, 1956) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on '' Chicago Hope''. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony (Best Actor, 1991, ''I Hate Hamlet'') as well ...

as Eric Weiss;

Allan Miller Allan Miller is an American stage, film, and television actor. Biography Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Anna (née Diamond) and Benedict Miller. He served in the U.S. Army after World War II during the occupation of Japan ...

as his father Manny; and

Dana Reeve Dana Charles Reeve (née Morosini; March 17, 1961 – March 6, 2006) was an American actress, singer, and activist for disability causes. She was the wife of actor Christopher Reeve and mother of television reporter and anchor Will Reeve. Early ...

as his wife Nina.

Arye Gross Arye Gross (; born March 17, 1960) is an American actor, who has appeared on a variety of television shows in numerous roles, most notably Adam Greene in the ABC sitcom ''Ellen''. Personal life Gross was born on March 17, 1960, in Los Angeles ...

and

Ari Graynor Ariel Geltman Graynor (born April 27, 1983) is an American actress, known for her roles in TV series such as ''I'm Dying Up Here'', ''The Sopranos'' and ''Fringe'', in stage productions such as ''Brooklyn Boy'' and ''The Little Dog Laughed'', and ...

also appeared. The play premiered on

at the Biltmore Theatre on January 13, 2005, in previews and officially on February 3, 2005, and closed on March 27, 2005, after 62 performances and 23 previews. The SCR cast reprised their roles, except that

Polly Draper Polly Carey Draper (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. Draper has received several awards, including a Writers Guild of America Award (WGA), and is noted for speaking in a "trademark throaty voice." She ...

took the role of Nina. Adam Arkin was nominated for the 2005

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

, Outstanding Actor in a Play. The play was nominated for the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Broadway Play.

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', wrote: "...has the courage to confront head-on the predictability of the midlife crisis it portrays....Brookyn Boy, smoothly directed by Daniel Sullivan and acted with fine-grained conviction by a cast led by Adam Arkin, may indeed be Mr. Margulies's most personally heartfelt work. But while this comic drama is steeped in an admirably humble and often touching spirit of acceptance, it seldom does what first-rate plays must do and what Mr. Margulies has achieved repeatedly before: it does not make the familiar seem fresh.".Brantley, Ben
"Theater Review.'Brooklyn Boy'"
''The New York Times'', February 4, 2005

References

{{reflist

External links

Playbill listing at playbillvault.com
Broadway plays 2004 plays Plays by Donald Margulies Plays set in New York City Brooklyn in fiction Jews and Judaism in fiction