Theater Reviews

Apr 10, 2001 - Reno Little Theater's "Lost in Yonkers" is a Triumph of Heart

By Jack Neal

Under the superb direction of Mathew Mahan, who molds an excellent cast into a poetic presentation of Neil Simon's "Lost In Yonkers," the Reno Little Theater is back in stride as a community theater worth experiencing from both sides of the footlights.

RLT's "Lost in Yonkers" opened last Friday (4/6/2001) at the company's temporary home, the lodge hall of the Reno Elk's Club.

This touching tragicomedy, Simon's best play - filled as it is with nuance and feeling - must be fulfilling for its cast; it's an entirely moving and gripping experience for anyone fortunate enough to see what this gallant and stagestruck troupe of artists have created after their day jobs have been good enough to release them for the night.

To say that this RLT production is professional isn't quite right. It has its flaws. But sometimes a non-professional production has something merely good pros can't match; and that's heart. RLT's "Lost In Yonkers" has lots of heart and more. It has revelation, poignancy and riveting performances where it matters. In this tale of two boys who must spend the worst part of a year with a gestapo granny, a loony aunt and a con-artist uncle, all involved are at least satisfactory and at best stunningly brilliant.

In the pivitol scene of the play, Aunt Bella, a mildly retarded 35 year old woman insists her family sit down so she can tell them her plan to marry a similarly handicapped usher she has met on several occasions when she has gone off to the movies. Poor Aunt Bella can't get her words organized and turns to her two young and captive nephews, Jay and Arty, who know her secret and awkwardly try to help. Her sister, Gert, sits in polite confusion. Her brother Louie, a petty gangster, impatiently and rudely tries to leave. The clan's matriarch, icy-cold Grandma Kurnitz - the mother whose approval is what the retarded woman most wants and will never get - glares in stony silence.

The scene ought to be agony. Yet each time Bella rearranges the seating, dictates the flow of conversation or interrupts her tongue-tied story to say, "This is not the way I pictured it," her frustration gets a laugh. At the climax, her pleadings fuse into an aria of justified rage and saintly forgiveness for the limits imposed on her by her loved ones, most especially her mother. Abruptly, viewers who were crying with laughter are simply crying. The ability to find humor in unlikely places, then shift emotional gears makes Simon a great playwright and actors and directors who bring his writing touchingly to life theatrical artists of the first order.

As Bella, Melanie Collup modulates her performance with such subtlety and passion she is nothing less than superb. As Grandma Kurnitz, Harriet Beaman plays the heavy with restraint and sensitivity. Beaman's air of being a victim of life, too, makes her performance equally superb. As the two boys trapped in a world of dysfunction, Jake Ambrose (Jay) and Arty (Kyle Diede), are naturals, entirely right and engaging. As Louie, Robert Hatem, a big bear of a man, is both sweet and mildly terrifying and absolutely believable. Kristen Davis-Coelho is an affecting Gert. Paul Malikowski is a suitable bumbler of a dad to the two boys.

Diana Carter's set design, a 1942 New York apartment above-the-store concoction, is perfect - it reeks of World War II and upstairs entrapment. Rick Patton's lighting is, as usual, on target without calling attention to itself. All other details - clothes, furniture, etc. - have been carefully and effectively managed.

With "Lost In Yonkers" Simon isn't using jokes to paper over unhappy memories. Instead his jokes are a life-shriveling counterpoint to the real pain of his characters - and, of course, himself. This time out RLT manages to hit all of Simon's poignant points with all eight cylinders.

RLT's "Lost in Yonkers" is simply too good to miss.

"Lost In Yonkers" plays again Wednesday (4/11/2001) and Friday and Saturday (4/13 and 14) at 8 p.m. at the Elk's Club, 597 Kumle Lane, Reno. For information call 775-329-0661.