Josh Grisetti, Jessica Hecht, Santino Fontana & More to Join Laurie Metcalf in Neil Simon Plays

Casting has been announced for the forthcoming Broadway revivals of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, which will be directed by David Cromer. Brighton Beach Memoirs will begin previews at a theater to be announced on October 2 and open on October 25. Broadway Bound will begin previews at the same theater on November 18 and open on December 10. Beginning with previews for Broadway Bound, the two plays will be performed in rep on a varied schedule.

The central role of Eugene Jerome, a character based on the playwright, will be played by high school senior Noah Robbins in Brighton Beach Memoirs and Josh Grisetti a multiple award nominee for Enter Laughing in Broadway Bound. They join previously announced star Laurie Metcalf as matriarch Kate Jerome. Dennis Boutsikaris Amadeus, Sight Unseen will appear in both plays as patriarch Jack Jerome, joined by Santino Fontana Billy Elliot, Sunday in the Park with George, The Fantasticks as older brother Stanley Jerome.

The cast of Broadway Bound will include Jessica Hecht The Last Night of Ballyhoo, After the Fall, TV’s Friends as Blanche and Allan Miller Brooklyn Boy as Ben. Brighton Beach Memoirs will feature Alexandra Socha Spring Awakening as Nora, with the role of Laurie still to be cast.

Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound center on the Jerome family of Brooklyn. In Brighton Beach, set in 1937, teenage Eugene dreams about baseball and girls while his overworked father struggles to provide for the extended family. In Broadway Bound, set in the late 1940s, Eugene and his older brother, Stanley, have begun careers as professional comedy writers as their parents’ marriage is falling apart.

The two plays were enormous hits on Broadway in the 1980s, with Matthew Broderick winning his first Tony as Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs in 1983 and Linda Lavin winning Best Actress as Kate in Broadway Bound in 1987.