Neil Simon

Who hasn't seen "Barefoot in the Park" with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford or the "Odd Couple" with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon? Both were written with typical New York humour by Neil Simon. How lucky I was then to be able to get tickets to see Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway tonight. Such skilled script-writing that moved you to both laughter and watery eyes.  

Young Eugene starts to "blog" about his life in a struggling, immigrant family home in Brooklyn, noting every funny, quirky quote and chronicling each person's story; his parents, his aunt, his cousins, his older brother and even the neighbour across the street. The backdrop of 1937 lent another worldly dimension to the family dynamic with the looming war and the imminent arrival of the extended family from Poland. "I bet I'll even get the blame for the outbreak of war" notes the long suffering teen who feels the brunt of all the malaise of the family. You cannot help but love the sheer magic of the words, the sentiment of the play and the warmth of the humour. 

So now I have another league to attain, the Neil Simon blog language that can transport you all into my world of everyday situations and thoughts with amusement and interest. At dinner in Le Marais, my daughter Karen told me how much she had loved the play and appreciated all the Jewish references and typecasting. 

Her friend from North London, Victoria, a theatre director and now TV head of production was relishing her Jewishness in New York, remarking how at home she was feeling.  In London, her friends mistook her fancy mezuza on her door for an air freshener!

Okay, I now know why I chose the title for my blog. Yes, I was born in Burma. I now live in New York and I consider myself a Jew...el.