Neil Simon Tempers Jewish Immigrants’ Grief with Youthful Laughter

by Mary Lou Herlihy

Generations of bitterness cast a pall over the Kurnitz family. But the unexpected arrival of an estranged son with two teenage boys renews hope for these Jewish immigrants as they chase the “American Dream.”

Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” is set in 1942 at the start of WWII. Written 50 years later, Simon won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991, when the Gulf War was raging.

Formidable Grandma Kurnitz (powerful Ellen Ratner) enters through the central arched hallway of Deanna Zibello’s impressive set. Grandma plods toward her ‘throne’ to size up her estranged grandsons. “Which is the smart one?” she asks in a German accent. Her notorious walking cane serves as warning and weapon.

Grandma Kurnitz carries scars from WWI Germany that make her “American Dream” a wretched one. Her death grip on misery poisons the whole family. Grandma keeps her afflicted daughter Bella (brilliant Renee Rogoff) on the tightest leash and threatens to “put her in a home if she’s not a good girl.”

But child-like Bella radiates love. She smothers her nephews with hugs and cannot stop talking. “Where is your mom?” she asks. When the boys register shock, then pain, she backpedals, saying, “I mean, where is she buried?” Her awkward kindness means the world to these dislocated kids!

Bella’s estranged brother Eddie (masterful Adam Magill) returns to his mom’s unhappy home in desperation. He begs her to take care of his boys while he works down South. He needs money FAST. He owes mountains of medical debt to ruthless loan sharks.

His mom refuses but sister Bella announces that the boys WILL stay, standing up to her mother in a glorious act of defiance. Rogoff imbues Bella with such depth of feeling that when she cries out to be held, we ache with pain for the broken woman-child. When Bella’s sister steps in, we feel the rush of love that their mother cruelly denies.

Eddie’s precocious teenage sons, Arty (delightful Ray Khalili) and Jay (charming Tristan A. Rodriguez) feel trapped in Grandma’s fastidious Yonkers apartment. As the boys swelter in their suits and ties, they swap stories and practice hysterical imitations of their peculiar family. Grandma, Uncle Louis (talented Vinny Randazzo), Aunt Gert (hilarious Sarah Mitchell), and Aunt Bella are simply comedic characters to the innocent boys.

Director Nancy Carlin highlights the family’s eccentricities. Bella wanders forgetfully. Nervous Louis cannot sit still. Tiny, fearful Gert gasps for air as she speaks. Tyrannical Grandma commands from her throne.

Projected on large columns with oversized handwritten letters, we see footage of Eddie, usually on a train, speaking to his sons. On grandma’s pull-out couch, the boys read his letters, hanging on his every word. And upon Eddie’s triumphant return, it seems everyone has grown.

Nephews Arty and Jay help their Aunt Bella grow up. As she challenges the cruelty of her mom, Bella gains confidence. When the boys accept Bella’s playful goodbye gifts, a lightness emerges in the Kurnitz family, and anything seems possible.

Through all the laughter, “Lost in Yonkers” leaves us with plenty to ponder. What seeds of grief are being planted by Trump’s War with Iran?

“Lost in Yonkers” by Neil Simon, directed by Nancy Carlin, scenic design by Deanna Zibello, costumes by Becky Bodurtha, lighting by Christian Meija, and sound by Cliff Caruthers, at CenterREP, Walnut Creek, California.

Info: centerrep.org – to April 19, 2026.

Cast: Ray Khalili, Adam Magill, Sarah Mitchell, Vinny Randazzo, Ellen Ratner, Tristan A. Rodriguez, and Renee Rogoff.

Banner photo: Ray Khalili, Tristan A. Rodriguez, and Ellen Ratner. Photos: Kevin Berne