"LOST IN YONKERS," PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, University of Utah, through March 31 (581-6961), running time: 130 minutes (one intermission)
"Lost in Yonkers" is considered by some to be Neil Simon's best work, earning the legendary playwright both a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award in 1991.
Set in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1942, the play has young brothers Jay and Arty (Chris Landis and Kooper Campbell) being forced to live with their hardened grandmother (Sybil Lines) while their father, Eddie (Chris Clavelli), travels around the country selling scrap metal. Eddie was recently widowed after his wife died of cancer, but he was also left with a mountain of debt from her medical expenses.
Neither the boys nor their Grandma Kurnitz are happy about living with each other but reluctantly agree to it for the sake of Eddie.
Also living in the house is Aunt Bella, a 35-year-old woman with a childlike mind who has spent her life living with and caring for Grandma Kurnitz. The family lives in an apartment above Kurnitz's Kandy Store, which they run during the day.
Simon's play is heavy on both comedy and drama as the rambunctious boys learn to live under the strict house rules of their grandmother, played brilliantly by Lines as an immigrant from Germany who has lived a very hard life, having lost her husband and two of her children at a young age.
The problem with PMT's production Friday night was that most of the cast was either too stiff or simply couldn't find that right balance of mixing the play's comedic and dramatic elements. The punch lines for Simon's quick one-liners seemed forced, resulting in some not-so-funny lines.
Some of the actors also had a problem maintaining their "New Yawk" accents throughout, to the point that it became distracting, one moment sounding as if they were from the Bronx and then as if they had walked in from downtown Salt Lake City.
Ibi Janko plays the challenging role of Bella, who goes from emotional highs to emotional lows in the blink of an eye. The play's two most poignant scenes come when Bella tries to have a family meeting to announce that a man she met, who has the same slow learning skills, wants to marry her. The second comes when Bella finally takes a stand against her grandmother, letting her know that even though she has been alive for 35 years, she hasn't actually been living.
Because of Grandma Kurnitz's tough upbringing, she has closed off her heart rather than be hurt again. She would rather be cold as steel and a survivor. But by doing so she has denied the hugs and warmth her surviving children not only wanted but needed.
It isn't until this confrontation, however, that one really starts to feel for Bella and her grandmother, something that should have happened earlier in the play.
Sensitivity rating: Some mild language and discussion of sexuality.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com