Scene On Stage
Find Yourself At
Lost In Yonkers
Neil Simon's Pulizer-winner
at Paper Mill Playhouse
By Philip Dorian
Lost in Yonkers is dramatically engrossing, emotionally satisfying and as funny as anything else Neil Simon wrote. (Yes, including The Odd Couple.) It's also marvelously constructed, with eight tidy scenes that span nearly a year in the lives of a World War II-era extended family. Playing through March 14 at Paper Mill Playhouse, the wonderfully acted and expertly directed (by Michael Bloom) Yonkers is a joy.
It's 1942. A recently widowed father (John Plumpis) must leave his two young-teen sons with his autocratic German-Jewish mother (Rosemary Prinz) while he goes on the road for a lucrative sales job. The rigidly-run household includes the boys' Aunt Bella (Sara Surrey) who, at 35, is still childlike. Uncle Louie (J. Anthony Crane), a small-time gangster on the run, shows up, as does Aunt Gert (Patricia Buckley), who inhales gulps of air in mid-sentence.
Yonkers is a layered comedy. You want gags? The boys (Alex Wyse and Maxwell Beer, both excellent) don't miss a beat, with Crane's Louie, tough-as-nails with a softy interior, keeping pace. Farce? Bella's off-the-wall verbal gaffes and Gert's foghorn wheeze fill the bill.
The heart of the play lies with the innocently affable Bella and her stern, close-minded mother. By theatrical wizardry, the two actors establish a palpable bond between the vastly dissimilar (even in physical size) characters, a bond that makes Bella's climactic emotional outburst deeply affecting. The venerable Prinz (12 years as Penny Hughes on "As the World Turns") gives the stiff-backed Grandma just enough vulnerability to ward off dislike of the character, and Surrey...well, if her Bella doesn't break your heart you haven't got one. Neil Simon was awarded the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers. Was it deserved? This outstanding production leaves no doubt.
Through March 14 at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJ. Performances Wed at 7:30 p.m.; Thurs 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Fri at 8; Sat 1:30 and 8 p.m.; and Sun at 1:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets ($25-$92): 973-376-4343 or online at www.papermill.org.
pdorian18@comcast. net
