Review: Lost in Yonkers; Found in Brookfield

When you think Neil Simon, you may not think “immersive art experience,” but the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts challenges that thought in their production of Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, their first offering of the 2019 season.
 
For BTA’s production of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize Drama Award winner, director Dana O’Neal has highlighted the atmosphere of World War II America to pull 2019 Brookfield, Connecticut into 1942 Yonkers, New York. A veteran of the armed services, O’Neal has cleverly developed a pre-show set on Veterans Appreciation Day, transforming the theater into the Odeon movie theater referenced in the play (and usher Johnny no longer needs to be imagined as he is embodied by a member of the pre-show ensemble). O’Neal invites the audience to join the spirit of ’42 in support for the troops at home and abroad with a cabaret modeled after a USO tour or the Stage Door Canteen, and ”casts” one of the veterans in the audience in a featured bit. As for the show, a sweet tap number to The Good Ship Lollipop anchors it in authenticity, and despite the strong singers having vocal styles too modern for this event, the actors remain present in the nostalgic celebration. The pre-show ensemble includes: Hector Diaz, Alyssa Grey, Will Mahan, Jeffrey Rossman, Isabelle Tiska, and Tarah Vega. While not vital to the enjoyment of the play, the pre-show is a nice “buffer” for audience members to make a relaxing transition into the world of theatre.
 
When producing an award-winning play with such brilliant dialogue as Simon’s, a company can be assured that actors will want to play in the material and audiences will respond emphatically to the comedic moments, laughing over lines all the way to the parking lot. This production is no exception, which is a blessing, for resting the internal direction of a war-era play on the shoulders of 21st century children can be a trepidatious feat.
 
Lost in Yonkers is a both a sincere drama and a delightful comedy, aimed primarily through the perspective of fifteen-and-a-half year old Jay Kurnitz (Nico Apicella), as he, his father Eddie (David Cheris), and younger brother Arty (Dylan Fischetto) reluctantly visit their daunting German Grandma (Pat Covino) and sweet, addled Aunt Bella (Rigby Wikins) one summer. The boys are crestfallen to learn that this visit will last almost a year as their dad leaves them to work off debt incurred following their mother’s death. Soon, they are joined by their convivial but corrupt Uncle Louie (Michael Reilly) and later, a briefly met, earnest Aunt Gert (Lynn Nissenbaum).
 
This production could strongly benefit from a consultation with an elderly Jew from New York, for while the show is uniformly well acted, and mostly conveys the dramatic conflicts and coming of age themes that Simon sets up, it takes itself far too seriously. Conversely, O’Neal lends comedic elements where they are not needed, such as Grandma’s entrance music. The song is inherently funny in those moments, but it is a cheap, anachronistic gag that undercuts Covino’s precise performance. Her grasp on the role, her appearance, her entrance timing, and the family’s anticipation of her are where the laughs are naturally built.
 
At the risk of diverting from the stereotypes lurking in the characterizations, this cast lacks that particular flavor of Jewish families in Yonkers in the 40s: a mix of anxiety and wit that is spread like deli mustard, and just as snappy. The cadence and accent of New Yorkers in the 40s is practically non-existent (save for Reilly and Nissenbaum--although Covino’s German accent is sour-pickle perfect), and some of the comedic sauce gets watered down because of it. 
 
The children (particularly Fischetto) have not quite shaken off the affectations of teens in the twenty-teens, as Fischetto frequently breaks character and connection to his fellow actors to look at the audience and mug. He has done a beautiful job with his monologue and blocking, and it is with hope that as he matures, he will learn to ground himself in the moment of the material. Apicella, as previously mentioned, has the brunt of perspective and carries off Jay with confidence and likeability, but with a pinch too many eye-rolls and air quotes that were not customary for kids in the 40s. (A note on air quotes in Neil Simon plays: stop. It is not period-appropriate. I’m talking to you too, Reilly.)
 
Oh Reilly. While we’re talking so frankly, thank you for taking Louie out for the stoll that his character demands. Louie, while not a dyed-in-the-pinstripes tough guy, sure does take some ambitious swings and the one playing him cannot be afraid to hit a screwball. Reilly gives the tense air of this production a nicely wacky (in-character) breather. 
 
Credit given to Nissenbaum’s Gert, for while we hardly get to know ye in the show, she takes the characterized vocal wheezes that could be fodder for hokey laughs, and performs them organically as a byproduct of a tramatic childhood with steely Grandma. Also of note is Cheris’s Eddie, for his grief and despair are palpable. I invite him to explore more notes of Eddie, as Simon’s characters are never one level, and the comedy in the lines gives the drama much more color, particularly in Eddie’s postcards home.
 
Most divergent from character breakdown is Wilkins’ Bella, a woman that is a swirling study in emotional variety. Wilkins also has a lot to do in conveying the family climate while remaining authentic to this endearing character. She hits the beats of Bella’s trauma-reactive mood swings, but misses her unbridled moments of joy. Perhaps costuming that supports the character’s escapist spirit may have helped with this. Bella’s dramatic moments are sincerely that, but give the impression that rather than coming to her moment of self-assurance in the play, she has always had it and is just waiting for the right time to declare it to her mother. 
 
The intentional downstage center blocking that O’Neal asks of his actors impedes their connection with their castmates, particularly for Bella, who is already an odd little isolated duck. While Lost in Yonkers is densely populated with memorable monologues, it is not always necessary to deliver them to the dramatic middle distance from spotlit dead center. This show is about family, conflict, and connection, and front-n-center blocking addressed skyward can be counterintuitive to affective scene work.
 
Costumes by Doreen Rafferty are period-precise, and if no one takes credit for hair, they should, because Wilkins’s rag rollers had their own moment of praise. Set Designer Andrew Okell, with lighting from Stephen Cihanek, creates a liveable home space with realistic dressing, and save for a window placement that makes the bathroom space improbable, the setting works. Cihanek has additional lighting touches that assist with some of the more chimerical moments of the show, such as memory monologues and the aforementioned postcard readings.
 
Lost in Yonkers is a play with much moxie and chutzpah, taking the audience through a family’s life in an uncertain time with humor and heartache, and BTA works immensely hard to bring it to life. Settle in to this show, warm up your laughing face, and enjoy Simon’s masterpiece as performed by this engaging cast and crew.
 
Performances of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers run now through March 16th. Tickets are available at the box office by calling 203-775-0023 or online at www.BrookfieldTheatre.org. The Brookfield Theatre for the Arts is located at 184 Whisconier Rd, Brookfield, CT 06804. 
S
Submitted by Somers, NY

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