‘I hope they think about their family.’ Local cast brings ‘Broadway Bound’ to Pines
The lights weren’t working.
Inside the Pembroke Pines Theatre of Performing Arts, a team of four huddled in the elevated and darkened tech booth, preparing for rehearsals as actors below shuffled into their positions on stage, days away from opening night.
For the show’s director, Jerry Jensen, it was just another reminder of what live theater demands — patience, instinct and a willingness to adapt, especially when things don’t go as planned.
Set in 1949, Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound” follows two brothers chasing a dream to pursue comedy professionally while simultaneously dealing with family drama.
Now being staged by the PPTOPA, the production runs until Sunday, March 29.
Jensen, 78, says he makes the 45-minute commute from Hallandale Beach with ease, although he admits driving that much isn’t pleasurable.
A longtime business executive with degrees in industrial engineering from Cornell University, Jenden spent decades managing operations before returning to Florida in 2005 full-time and fueling his love for the theater.
“During my career, I was in a number of different cities and different companies, and I often would be a manager or even in a couple places, in charge of the operation,” Jensen told the Pembroke Pines News.
“You can only socialize so much with your employees when you’re in a strange town, so I use community theater as a social outlet to do that.”
The self-proclaimed Libra said he always had an affinity for theater and acting, dating back to his childhood.
“Since I saw ‘Cinderella’ when I was 3 years old in the movie theater,” Jensen said, noting this was the earliest memory of falling in love with the arts.
“Broadway Bound” is his second work with the PPTOPA, but not his first Neil Simon production. He previously worked on “Plaza Suite” and says he is now completing a personal full-circle moment with the playwright’s trilogy.
The play follows a working-class family as it struggles in the aftermath of World War II, a story Jensen said still feels familiar.
“It’s about the maturing process of growing up,” Jensen said. “It’s about a family struggle, not as all happy in the household throughout, but it’s a very warm and a very funny play.”
Pembroke Pines was founded right after the war to accommodate the returning servicemen who had trained in South Florida. Jensen said the play’s themes parallel the present.
Jensen’s focus, he said, is to keep that core grounded.
He said he relies on his actors’ instincts to bring that realism to life.
“I try to pick good actors that have a lot of instincts and they begin to relate to each other,” he said. “And that’s the way I’ve always managed when I was in business, too. Let an employee go as far as they go and if they go too far, you help them manage it.”
That approach, Jensen said, can often lead to some surprises.
“Sometimes when you read a play, you have visions of characters, and then you have an actor come in and audition, and they’re different than your vision is, but they’re dead on as far as the emotions they’re showing and the take,” he said.
Even with his decades of experience, Jensen said the process still poses its challenges, including cast turnover during production.
“I had a little turnover that people who were cast at auditions couldn’t do the show,” he said. “I had to learn more patience than I usually have.”
Still, Jensen said the reward comes in seeing it all come together.
“As an actor, you get instant feedback from the audience on stage, but as a director, you sort of sit back,” he said.
Although another production of the play was staged earlier in the season in West Boca, which provided some of the furniture, Jensen said each version stands on its own.
“I think every theater production is unique,” he said. “If it isn’t, there’s no point in doing live theater. ”
The show, Jensen says appeals across generations.
“I think it’s for everyone,” he said. “You’ll hear a lot of 1940s music. … I’m a baby boomer so I see some of my parents in the roles and maybe how I might have acted a bit when I was a kid growing up.” he said.
At the same time, he said the story’s focus on pursuing dreams connects with younger audiences.
“...That first step of trying something when you’re getting started and fulfilling your dream, I think, is relatable to young people,” Jensen said.
Onstage, the balance between humor and moments of heavy tension falls in part to actor Aaron Bravo.
Bravo, 38, plays Stanley Jerome, the older brother of the comedy duo whose frantic, high-energy personality helps drive much of the show’s comedy, which he describes as a sharp contrast to his own.
“He is very frantic, running around all over the place. He’s super high energy,” Bravo told the Pembroke Pines News. “Which is the complete opposite of me because I’m pretty chill doing my own thing, but it’s a lot of fun just stepping into the role of somebody like that.”
A Pembroke Pines resident, Bravo says stepping into a character so different from himself is part of the appeal.
“I feel the further the character is away from me, the better I do at the role,” he said.
A self-described introvert, he shifted from studying jazz guitar to theater after discovering a passion for acting. Bravo has worked with PPTOPA since 2017.
“You get to experience emotions in ways you probably would have never thought about before,” he said. “It just drew me in.”
Now more than a decade into acting, Bravo said one of the biggest challenges with this play comes in the second act with a confrontational monologue.
“On top of it being a long monologue, there’s also a lot of emotions involved in it,” he said. “Sometimes, if you get too emotional, you start to forget what you’re supposed to say. That’s probably the one scene that has given me the most problems.”
The show’s lighter moments, however, have become a personal favorite for Bravo, particularly a scene in which the brothers scramble to come up with a sketch.
“Even when we’re doing it in rehearsal, we hear the actors laughing, the directors laughing, we will break character and laugh because it is so funny,” he said.
Balancing the role came with an added pressure for Bravo.
“I have done multiple shows at once before but I have never had such a quick turnaround where, literally, I closed one show then I opened the next show,” he said.
Despite the swift pace, Bravo said the collaboration in rehearsals helped him find the character.
“What I’ve loved about Jerry’s directing style … is he really lets us bring our own flavor to it,” he said. “We were able to do whatever our artistic instincts are and just let it flow.”
As the production moves quickly between heavy family conflict and fast-paced comedy, Bravo said he’s curious to see how audiences will respond to the sudden shifts.
“I’m really interested to see how they’re going to react to the pacing and just the tonal shift between the scenes,” he said. “They really don’t get much time.”
Both Jensen and Bravo say the story’s core message is simple.
“I hope they have a good time,” Jensen said. “I hope they think about their family a little bit.”
Bravo’s takeaway is more personal.
“Maybe I’m just sentimental because I have a lot of family things going on recently, but the importance of family,” he said. “No matter how much you clash, you still love each other. … I just hope that they have a great time and that they just come out thinking about their family and maybe to call your mother.”
