Review: Lost in YonkersRaleigh Little Theatre Review Neil Simon’s “Lost In Yonkers” lives up to its pedigree Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers, now on the boards at Raleigh Little Theatre, has quite a pedigree. The original Broadway production of this coming-of-age story, set in the titular city in 1942, won the 1991 Tony Award® for Best Play, 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, and the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The current RLT production, which opened last Friday under the direction of Haskell Fitz-Simons and runs Thursday-Sunday through Aug. 23rd, stuck to the prize-winning playwright’s tried-and-true formula and earned a rare -- for RLT -- standing ovation that went on and on and on. Triangle theater veteran Patsy Clarke proved to be a particular crowd favorite with her prickly performance as Grandma Kurnitz, an irascible German-Jewish immigrant whose volcanic temper terrorizes her children and terrifies her grandchildren, especially when she expresses her displeasure physically by viciously whacking one or more of them with her cane. Clarke’s characterization is so charismatic that the violent specter of the vitriol-spewing, cane-wielding Grandma Kurnitz even haunts scenes in which Grandma is offstage in her room. Larry Evans is appealing as Grandma’s widowed son Eddie Kurnitz, a struggling salesman who reluctantly leaves his sons Jay and Arty (Christian Phipps and Nate Sepic) with the old fire-breathing dragon, hoping that they won’t get singed, while he takes a traveling-salesman’s job out of state in an effort replenish his tapped-out bank account. Eddie is a milquetoast; but his brother Louie (played with gusto by David Klionsky) is a pistol. A ne’er-do-well, Uncle Louie is a tough-talking small-time hoodlum on the lam from gangster bosses whom he has antagonized. Klionsky gives a scene-stealing performance as the family black sheep. From the moment that Louie once again darkens Grandma’s door, hell’s-a-poppin’ in chez Kurnitz. Susannah Hough as Louie’s goodhearted but somewhat simpleminded spinster sister Bella adds to the fireworks when her uncharacteristic defiance of her domineering mother threatens to turn the crowded apartment above Kurnitz’s Kandy Store in a war zone. Christian Phipps and Nate Sepic are cute as Jay and Arty; and Ann Forsthoefel provides comic relief in her brief appearances as the boy’s high-strung, hyperventilating Aunt Gert, whose chronic case of nerves causes her to swallow the second half of her sentences. Long-time Raleigh Little Theatre artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons deftly blends this script and this cast, while whipping up a delightful comic soufflé. Scenic designer Jim Zervas vividly recreates the cramped confines of the Kurnitz apartment; costume designer Vicki Olson dresses the cast in an authentic array of early World War II fashions, circa 1942; and lighting designer Rick Young skillfully manipulates his instruments to keep the comic focus just where it should be. RLT patrons more familiar with the nonstop gags of the earlier, more carefree Neil Simon comedies may be surprised by the serious overtones of some of the situations in Lost In Yonkers. But this Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play is just the latest example of Simon’s maturation as a playwright. The epic battle of wills between Grandma Kurnitz and Aunt Bella is worth the price of admission, but Raleigh Little Theatre’s robust rendition of Lost In Yonkers also has plenty of other rewards for the discriminating theatergoer. Raleigh Little Theatre presents Lost In Yonkers Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 13-15 and 20-22, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 16 and 23, at 3 p.m. in RLT’s Cantey V. Sutton Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607. TICKETS: $18 ($15 students and seniors 62+). BOX OFFICE: 919/821-3111 or http://www.etix.com/. NOTE: Assistive-listening devices are available for all shows, and all shows are wheelchair accessible. SHOW: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/09-10/yonkers.html. PRESENTER: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/. OTHER LINKS: The Play: http://www.ibdb.com/show.php?ID=5561 (Internet Broadway Database). The Film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107443/ (Internet Movie Database). Neil Simon: https://www.msu.edu/~pelowsk1/neilsimon/ (Unofficial Neil Simon Homepage), http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=7879 (Internet Broadway Database), and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800319/ (Internet Movie Database). 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