Last modified: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 1:08 PM EDT Joe LaGreca, left, Barbara Pettis and Lucas Lloyd appear in a scene from the Mansfield Music and Arts Society's production of Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound.' (Submitted) REVIEW: You're 'Bound' to enjoy MMAS's latest BY JAMES A. MEROLLA STAFF WRITER MANSFIELD - Maybe New England Repertory Company should just take on the entire Neil Simon canon of plays all season long, like Shakespere companies do with that immortal playwright's similar canon of 30-plus works. NERC is on the verge of mastering Simon, as evidenced by last weekend's opening of "Broadway Bound," the third play in Simon's semi-autobiographical trilogy that began with "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (done so well by NERC at Mansfield Music and Arts Society's Black Box Theatre last year) and continuing through "Biloxi Blues." If they do, I can't wait to see "Lost in Yonkers," "Barefoot in the Park," "Laughter on the 23rd Floor," "Rumors," "The Odd Couple," "Plaza Suite," and on and on and on in future seasons; NERC has the right actors, the right touch and the proper feel all in place, across their boards in the intimate MMAS theater. Under the steady, gentle hand of director Mike Kiernan - who knows when to impart and when to leave his actors alone to wield their instinctive magic - "Broadway Bound" is a sensitive, wistful, funny yet tragic production; full of laughs and full of hurt; real, tactile, very fulfilling through the observing of those so unfulfilled. Kiernan remarked that the story reminds of the opening line in Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina": "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Simon's dramatic alter ego, Eugene Jerome, has grown up. He and brother Stan aspire to be big comedy writers for CBS and have one night to produce a sketch or lose their big chance. Stan wants to be famous in order to meet showgirls. Eugene wants something better for himself, as evidenced by the failures around him through the narrative he tells so sweetly. We meet his mother Kate (a heartbreaking Barbara Pettis), the mainstay of the family, the unhappy Jewish martyr who is losing her husband; Grandpa Ben (a marvelous Yiddish take by Bob Emery), the socialist who can't tell or make a joke; Stan (a bombastic Joe LaGreca), the driving force of the play who carries his own less than quiet desperation; Kate's sister Blanche (a dead-on Alice Springer), the former pretty one who is made to feel guilty for marrying a wealthy man and living on Park Avenue after her first husband died suddenly; and Jack (the always reliable Brian Kelly, now mastering all father roles at MMAS), who is estranged from his wife and soon, his sons. The narrative string throughout all these "Brighton" shows is Eugene, who walks us through each crisis, each salient memory, each moment of pathos, nostalgia, hope and pity. Lucas Lloyd is marvelous in this role, as he was as the wounded lone wolf murderer in "Hello Out There" by NERC at MMAS, earlier this year. Except for Eugene, all of the men in the Jerome clan are disconnected from their women; all seeking something selfish, something better, something else. Revealing plot points is unnecessary here; they merely serve as window dressing to paint a universal slice of life portrait of a Jewish, New York burrough family 60 years ago. We know these people; we've seen these people; hell, we are these people. No one wants to move, yet everyone dreams of moving. You will remember many things about this production of "Broadway Bound." But first and foremost, you will remember Pettis's long second act monologue about the highlight of her young life: the day she got to dance with movie star George Raft. Everything else in her personal journey billowed sideways from that romantic moment, and none of it got any better. Except the telling, which is now yours to share at MMAS. "Broadway Bound" runs through Sunday, May 24 at MMAS's Black Box Theatre, 30 Crocker St., Mansfield. Ticket prices are $20 general, $19 MMAS members and seniors, and $18 for students under 18. To order tickets online, visit www.mmas.org or call MMAS at 508-339-2822.