__NOTOC__ The Eugene Trilogy refers to three plays written by

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

, the "quasi-autobiographical trilogy" ''

Brighton Beach Memoirs ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes '' Biloxi Blues'' and ''Broadway Bound''. Productions ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' had a pre-Broadway ...

'', '' Biloxi Blues'' and ''

Broadway Bound ''Broadway Bound'' is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. It is the last chapter in his Eugene trilogy, following ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' and '' Biloxi Blues''. Plot overview The play is about Eugene and his older brother, Stanley, dea ...

''.

History

The trilogy tells the story of Eugene Jerome from his adolescence in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, to his time spent in

basic training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique deman ...

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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."

Stage

'' premiered 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 ...

on March 22, 1983; '' Biloxi Blues'' premiered on

on March 28, 1985 and ''

'' premiered on

on December 4, 1986."'Broadway Bound' Listing"
Internet Broadway Database, accessed April 13, 2012

Film

''Brighton Beach Memoirs''" 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' "
suntimes.com, December 25, 1986"Listing"
Internet Movie Database, accessed April 13, 2012 and ''Biloxi Blues''Ebert, Roger
" 'Biloxi Blues' "
suntimes.com, March 25, 1988 were made into films, while ''Broadway Bound'' was adapted as a made-for-TV movie.Erickson, Hal.
" 'Broadway Bound' (1992)"
movies.nytimes.com, accessed April 13, 2012 On screen the role of Eugene Jerome was played by

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel ''Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverman was ...

in ''

'' (he also played Stanley in the film version of ''Broadway Bound''),

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. His roles include the Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the title character in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), the voice of adult Simba in Disney's ''The Lion King'' (1994), ...

in '' Biloxi Blues'' (he also played Eugene in the Broadway productions of both ''Brighton Beach'' and ''Biloxi Blues''), and Corey Parker in ''

''.

References

External links

*
archive
*
archive
*
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eugene Trilogy Plays by Neil Simon