Simple Simon :: Philadelphia City Paper. 25 Years of Independent Journalism.

Community theaters stubbornly rely on Neil Simon to generate revenue, and the strategy usually works. Though the Ritz Theatre Company in nearby Haddon Township, N.J., is technically nonunion professional (i.e., they do pay their artists), its seasons of comedies, mysteries and musicals fit the community mold, as evidenced by their production of Simon's most respected (albeit most flawed) play, the 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winner Lost in Yonkers.

Director Esther Flaster's production hits the right notes in Simon's shot at Serious Drama, playing the punch lines to ease the long-winded contrivance that places likable teens Jay (Alex Pappaterra) and Arty (William Ackerman) with their ferocious grandmother (Ginna Higgins) for 10 months in 1942.

Simon makes much of Grandma's German tough-love tactics, but by any measure she failed miserably, her brutality resulting in four dysfunctional children: the boys' ineffectual father Eddie (Corbin Abernathy), running from a loan shark for noble reasons; the affably addled Bella (Connie Giordano), her simplemindedness the butt of many Simon jokes; the gangster Louie (Ernie Jewell), who's "like having a James Cagney movie in your own house"; and Gert (Maureen Corson), an afterthought tossed into Act 2 for some cheap asthma laughs. Nevertheless, Grandma lustily sets to beating survival instincts into her smartass grandchildren.

Higgins strives for teutonic intensity, banging her cane unconvincingly; the script allows her little else until Bella becomes inexplicably articulate in Act 2, confronting her in a long-winded bid for independence. "I stopped feeling," Grandma concedes in tidy self-analysis, "because I couldn't stand losing anymore." Giordano's whiny Bella makes the most of this awkwardly inserted sequence, when the boys (the play's central characters and our guides, up to this point) suddenly disappear.

I've seen this play four times and still don't understand its appeal; I chalk it up to the mind-numbingly successful sitcom technique of juxtaposing cheap quips and snarky banter with "very special" moments of neatly manufactured emotion. Shouldn't we expect more from the theater?

The Ritz's production boasts Russell McCleskey's first-rate set — an appropriately grim, stuffy Grandma's house — and Trish Reichfeld's handsome period costumes. Effective performances and professional work, overall — but serving a play best left to the genuine amateurs.

Lost In Yonkers

Through Oct. 7,Ritz Theatre, 915 White Horse Pike,Haddon Township, N.J.856-858-5230www.ritztheatreco.org