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.
Carefree, witty to a fault, and quick to joke, he is 23 years old and working in the stock room of a music company before his brother and writing partner, Stanley, helps them both to break into the world of showbiz.
While he maintains his affable and seemingly care-free nature, Eugene cares deeply about everyone in his family, especially for his parents – on whom he bases the ridiculous characters of his first big comedy sketch.
Kate Jerome – A strong woman through and through, Eugene and Stanley's mother has done her best to take care of her father, Ben, while raising her boys and keeping a wary eye on her husband.
She knows her boys are grown men, but will never not see them as her babies – when Eugene becomes ill during Act II, she admonishes him as a child for not being in bed when the radio show begins, among other examples.
He becomes outraged when the radio program his sons wrote turns out to sound eerily similar to their own family situation, and quickly admonishes them before being put back into place by Stanley for his own affairs.
Produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Gene Saks, the cast starred Linda Lavin as Kate, Jonathan Silverman as Eugene, Jason Alexander as Stanley, Phyllis Newman as Blanche, John Randolph as Ben and Philip Sterling as Jack.
[7] A Broadway revival, directed by David Cromer, was scheduled to open in November 2009 (previews) at the Nederlander Theatre, running in repertory with Brighton Beach Memoirs.
However, Brighton Beach Memoirs closed on November 1, 2009 due to weak ticket sales and the planned production of Broadway Bound was canceled.
The cast starred Anne Bancroft (Kate), Hume Cronyn (Ben), Jerry Orbach (Jack), Jonathan Silverman (Stan) and Corey Parker (Eugene).
[11] Frank Rich, in his review for The New York Times wrote: " Broadway Bound contains some of its author's most accomplished writing to date – passages that dramatize the timeless, unresolvable bloodlettings of familial existence as well as the humorous conflicts one expects.
There are stretches, especially in Act I, when Broadway Bound isn't funny or moving but just reportorial and expository, with plot twists and thematic invocations piling up undigested, like the heavier courses at an attenuated Passover seder.