Another Pleasant Family Situation
Lost In Yonkers  at TheaterWorks 
**1/2 (out of *****)
Mark S.P. Turvin
(w) 965-1021  (h) 894-5443
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@asu.edu

	Neil Simon is to theatre what Stephen King is to horror, 
Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury are to science fiction and Jackie 
Collins is to romance and trash. His prolific tendancies are 
almost as legendary as his many hits and flops. Mr. Simon's last 
true hit before his recent string of flops was the Pulitzer Prize 
winning play Lost In Yonkers. A departure from his obvious 
autobiographical works of the late 80's, this show deals with a 
family affected by internal and external forces that are driving 
everyone a little (or a lot) nutso. 
	While World War II grinds on, a German-Jewish family living 
in America deals with gangsters, loansharks, and the even more 
frightening Grandma Kurnitz, who rules her children and 
grandchildren with an iron fist that even Der Fuerher would have 
envied.
	Central to this show are the two early-teenaged brothers, Jay 
and Arty, whose father is leaving them with their grandmother to 
make some war money and pay off the debts incurred during his 
wife's fatal illness. As frightened as the brothers are of their 
grandmother, their father is even more scared. Pressed by her son 
and her more-than-just-slightly-kooky daughter Bella, the stern 
Grandma Kurnitz agrees to take them in, setting up a ten month 
situation that eventually draws the family to the brink of 
disaster and nearly back again. The show is rich with dark comedy, 
and though not Simon's best, it is very solid, and a good piece 
for an evening's fare.
	This production, directed by Lisa Fineberg Malone, though, 
gives an already pokey script a low-energy rendition. While 
Pauline Borjes is wonderful as the Grandma of steel, the rest of 
the cast seemed to lack the power to equal her steady, intense 
performance. She easily maneuvered through her German accent and 
brought forth a character that was at once powerful and pitiable. 
Near to Ms. Borjes level of intensity was Robyn Allen, who played 
the scatterbrained Aunt Bella with much comedy and poignancy. From 
here, the cast offered a mixed bag of performances.
	Philip Dawkins, always a joy to watch, seemed uncomfortable 
in the role of the older brother Jay. He stumbled through his 
lines, fumbling between a solid New York accent and an 
inexplicable Boston accent. His preoccupation with his speech 
patterns seemed to get in the way of his presentation. In the 
past, this young actor has dealt with many much more difficult 
characters and succeeded admirably, yet he seemed in this show to 
be concentrating on performance rather than motivation and 
interaction.
	Greg Santos and Ginny Harman were good in their small roles 
as Bella's siblings. Mr. Santos brought a great amount of energy 
to the show when he was onstage in his role as the bagman and 
henchman Uncle Louie. What he lacked in subtlety he made up for in 
humor, lighting up the stage and reminding the audience that this 
was, after all, a Neil Simon comedy. 
	Disappointing were the performances of Jason Wo as the 
younger brother Arty, and Ron Hunting, in his role of Jay and 
Arty's father. The young Mr. Wo had a nasty habit of dropping his 
voice and losing his lines in a scene, and actually ended one 
scene by mumbling his line into his sleeve. Mr. Hunting played his 
small character at one level, and elicited no sympathy or 
appreciation in his portrayal.
	Gregory Jaye's set design was solid and worked very well, 
slicing away the walls of this second story apartment above the 
Kurnitz Kandy Shop to give the audience a literal peek into the 
Kurnitz family's lives. Paula Lippert's lighting was very good, 
considering the space limitations of TheatreWorks soon-to-be-
former home. 
	Thursday night performances are difficult for many actors to 
pull off with as much enthusiasm as the Friday or Saturday nights, 
and often the crowd is not as easily responsive on this evening. 
While this crowd thoroughly enjoyed the performance, the actors 
seemed unable to kickstart themselves and rise to the next level. 
Perhaps on another night, this show would have rated higher 
praise, but the chemistry was unbalanced for this evening's 
performance.

Production Details:
Lost In Yonkers by Neil Simon
TheatreWorks, Glendale
486-8636
November 10-December 3

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