Lost in Yonkers

by Neil Simon

Book Overview

Neil Simon's inimitable play about the trials and tribulations that test family ties--winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

What happens to children in the absence of love? That is the question that lies at the heart of this funny and heartrending play by one of America's most acclaimed and beloved playwrights. Debuting at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 1990, Lost in Yonkers went on to win four Tony Awards, including Best Play,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452268834
• ISBN13: 9780452268838
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Moving. Witty. Dramatic. Hopeful: Neil Simon at his best.

First and foremost, Neil Simon is a brilliant playright, and Lost in Yonkers is another feather in his cap. Set in Yonkers, New York in 1942 during the second world war, two children-Jay and Artie-must stay for one year (while a debt is being cleared by their father) with their cold-hearted, inflexible, emasculating and miserly Grandmother Kurnitz, a hardened survivor and also a woman whose own inner emotional "icing up" (because of her own uncommunicated tragedy) turned her own kids into a petty thug (Louie), a childlike simpleton (Bella), a castrated doormat (Eddie) and a stuttering fool whom many privately mock (Aunt Gert). And under the intense conditions that this one woman evokes, Jay and Artie must struggle to live or rather survive, for a house without love or any caliber of human warmth whatsoever can quickly change these two boys from innocence and humor to the very spitting image of their deeply flawed aunts and uncle, and they themselves realize this; they must be steely and unfeeling, as their grandmother would love to have happen, for anything opposite that would be a sign of weakness and failure. And that is what makes Lost in Yonkers sad, disturbing and frightening, because those very elements are the ingredients for a very dysfunctional adulthood, and that is sometimes the worst weapon of all--the lacking of human love and warmth. But with the strict, life-sucking obedience that the kids must adhere to in order for there to be some semblance of peace and cohesion, one would think that there would be no possible glimmer of hope at all. Yet, the hope comes in the form of Jay and Artie's childlike aunt, Bella, whose simplicity will simply not allow her to be an unfeeling android who goes through the motions of life. She yearns for love and demands it, if not from her very mother than from her nephews and those whom she tries to date and form relationships with: "...But I'll never stop wanting what I don't have...It's too late to go back for me...Maybe I'm still a child but now there's just enough woman in me to make me miserable. We have to learn to deal with that somehow, you and me...And it can never be the same anymore...(She gets up) I'll put my things away...I think we've both said enough for today...don't you?" (P. 114). Bella's audacity to finally stand up and against her mother's cold stranglehold shifts the whole play and all its characters-though Gert and Louie seem so far gone and too steeped in their own problems to be redeemed-to a higher realm of betterment and potential, specificially for Jay and Arty, who have quitely borne their misery with fear and sharp wit and one-liners, while Bella and Grandmother Kurnitz have also somehow emotionally improved, if only minutely. But the next generation has been spared the wrath. Lost in Yonkers is about fear in the family, the sufferings that family's can inflict upon one another and ultimately redemption through that suffering. Lost in Yonkers is a true American play.

Recommended to the legions of Neil Simon enthusiasts

One of Neil Simon's classic dramas, Lost In Yonkers is set in 1942 Yonkers, New York and centers on Jay and Arty, two boys (ages 13 and 16) who must spend one year with their rather austere and quite demanding grandmother while war rages in Europe. Here is a family of memorable and eccentric characters that can be identified within most families and assortments of kinfolk. The Los Angles Theatre Works cast under the direction of John Rubinstein does full justice in this radio play adaptation of Neil Simon's Pultizer Prize and Tony Award-winning play. This superbly recorded audiobook edition of Lost In Yonkers is very highly recommended to the legions of Neil Simon enthusiasts and fans.

Heartfelt

I was pleasantly surprised by Lost in Yonkers. The story touched my heart without being pretentious. Neil Simon is one of the best modern playwrights who has the heart of Miller and the inventiveness of Mamet.

Superb.

This play is a true classic. It is different from Neil Simons other largely succesful plays, because of it's serious undertones; though it does not lack comedy. It takes place in the 1940's Yonkers, NY. Two boys whos' mother died recently of cancer move in with their grandmother while their father tries to pay off his debt by going around selling scrap iron in the south. The family is genuinely messed up, between simple yet sweet Bella, Henchman Louie, Gert who cannot speak without sucking in half of her sentence, and Eddie (the father of the two boys) who is rather weak; the boys have quite a family. But none of these characters are any bit as overwhelming as Jay and Arty's german grandmother, who was brought up strictly and brought her children up in such a way that there is something wrong with all of them. Yet, this play also has a bright side. The character of Arty has some wonderful oneliners; for instance:"Jay: He had an uncle in Poland who died. He left the money in the will to Pop.Arty: You think the Germans would let some Jew in Poland send nine thousand dollars to some Jew in Alabama?"This line, if properly delivered is funny, yet poigniant. I strongly suggest that you read it; and if you get the chance, see it live. A heart-wrenching coming of age story about the search for independence and how the past can influence your life forever.

Good insight into adapting a play to the screen.

A good introduction to the relationship of a screenplay to the actual images that end up on screen. Martha Coolidge is the director of the film [not the designer] and Ray Stark is the producer.