"LOST IN YONKERS" WONDERFULLY FOUND AT HARTFORD STAGE

Three generations of the Kurnitz family exist with the stern and stoic Grandma as the matriarch who rules their roost. Her difficult German history and the tragic losses in her life dictate her grim outlook and perspective. Although she has owned and operated Kurnitz’s Kandy Store in Yonkers, New York for decades, no one would describe her as “sweet.” Her job is to guide and instruct, not nourish or nurture her flock. With a limp and a cane, resembling a “wrinkled ice cube,” and deaf in one ear, she is a mean woman set in her ways. You can only imagine the fear of her grandsons Jay and Arty when they learn their newly widowed father Eddie is planning to leave them in her care for ten months as he travels south to earn enough to pay off their mother’s medical bills. Be sure to wipe your feet and not make too much noise as you enter Lauren Helpern’s dated set, complete with lace antemacceurs, at Hartford Stage until Sunday, May 1 to engage your heart and soul in Neil Simon’s stirring family comic drama “Lost in Yonkers,” winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. With Marsha Mason starring as the indomitable Grandma, and co-directing with Rachel Alderman, you will be swept into the lives of these unique individuals before you can say “gum drops and lollipops” three times fast. As the newly bereaved husband, Eddie, a devoted Jeff Skowron, is clearly afraid of his mother, but he has no choice: he must beg her to take in his sons. Predicatably Grandma refuses, but Eddie’s loving sister Bella, a delightful but mentally challenged Andrea Syglowski, accepts with joy. She lives in a dream world where fantasies could become real and makes the best ice cream sodas. She promises Jay, a serious and concerned Hayden Bercy, and younger brother Arty, a moxie filled Gabriel Amoroso, that she will protect them if they will keep her secrets from you-know-who. Whereas Eddie quakes in the shadow of his mother, his brother Louie, a gangster who trifles in a dangerous world, a daring Michael Nathanson, thrives after a childhood being locked in a closet. Their sister Gert, who still has a breathing problem thanks to growing up with mama, a skittish Liba Vaynberg, tries to be supportive of her siblings. The deaths of Grandma’s other two children still haunt her and cause her to harden her steel spine against any further tragedies. For tickets ($30-100), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at HartfordStage.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Bring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test and wear a mask. Can love and forgiveness and compassion heal even the harshest heart? Come discover for yourself but be careful not to let any one steal the salt off the pretzels or Grandma will demand you pay her.