NORA IN BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS
Feb - March 2020
MALTZ JUPITER THEATRE
DIRECTED BY J BARRY LEWIS
In her first show as a member of Actors Equity Association, Krystal plays Nora in a successful, fully sold out production at Maltz Jupiter Theatre.
“Home is the place where they have to take you in, to paraphrase Robert Frost. It’s also the place where every family dynamic plays out — love, resentment, growing pains, conflict, chaos, worry and secrets — as shown in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s superb production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, running through March 8.
Smoothly directed by J. Barry Lewis with a first-class cast of mostly South Florida actors, the Maltz production hits all the high notes of Neil Simon’s incisive script,…Set in Brooklyn during 1937, Brighton Beach Memoirs looks at the Jerome family headed by Jack and Kate Jerome, played by real-life husband and wife Avi Hoffman and Laura Turnbull, and their sons Eugene (Anthony Zambito) Stanley (Alex Walton). The bursting-at-the-seams household also includes Kate’s widowed sister Blanche Morton (Margery Lowe) and her daughters Laurie (Alexa Lasanta) and Nora (Krystal Millie Valdes).
The tight cast effortlessly maneuvers the pathos beneath the humor with each actor understanding the emotional vagaries of their characters.
As Nora, Valdes channels her inner teenager for a persuasive interpretation of a 16-year-old with dreams of Broadway, who resents it when those plans are dashed and doesn’t understand the sacrifices her mother has made for her. Yet Valdes goes beyond the typical self-centered teen persona.”
-Oline H. Cogdill
http://www.floridatheateronstage.com/reviews/maltzs-brighton-beach-memoirs-makes-strong-memories/