By Deirdre Parker Smith
dp1@salisburypost.com
If there’s a dearth of laughter in Neil Simon’s 1971 comedy, “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” it’s only because many of the jokes are so close to 2011 reality.
Piedmont Players’ summer production is livened by a strong performance from Gary Thornburg, as Mel, a miserable, uptight, soon-to-be-unemployed New Yorker going crazy over everything.
It’s too cold in the bedroom, it’s too hot on the balcony. The garbage stinks, the German stewardesses next door play music too loud.
Mel mopes and whines and rails and rages to patient wife Edna, played with sympathy by Sunny Boone, a newcomer to Piedmont.
Edna comes home one day after Mel’s rampage and finds their apartment has been robbed — because she left the door unlocked — and Mel walks in and tells her he’s been fired. The recession of the ’70s meant layoffs and bankruptcy and high prices, too.
Thornburg plays a gamut of emotions, from hysterically funny to hysterical to broken, with power and authenticity. Boone responds in kind.
When Mel discovers the robbers even took their Scotch and Valium, it’s all over for him, and he breaks down.
Next we see Edna sharply dressed for her new career as a secretary, popping home to feed poor, depressed Mel, on her lunch hour, another huge insult to his abilities. He rants about a huge conspiracy theory (familiar to every decade) leading Edna to make a desperate call to a psychiatrist.
Mel’s brother and three sisters show up, played by Barnet Sherman, another Piedmont newcomer; veterans Nora El Khouri-Spencer and Greer (just Greer); and yet another newcomer, Anissa McNair.
One sister is sobbing, one sister is saying, “I told you so,” and the other sister is willing to stand up for her baby brother — to a point.
You can imagine the family argument that ensues — who will take care of Mel and Edna and how much each is willing to contribute.
Mel wanders around in a detached state, like a child.
But, as in all good comedies, fortunes reverse, as do roles, and the play hits the funny bone again and again. A touch of revenge makes for a happy ending.
At two hours, including a 20-minute intermission, the play contains some adult language, which is appropriate for the content. If nothing else, you can suffer along with Mel and Edna and realize that this, too, shall pass.
Director and designer Reid Leonard has produced a good evening of entertainment, featuring one of the area’s best actors in a role he was made for. Take time to laugh and cry along with him.
“The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” underwritten by Rowan Regional Medical Center, continues tonight and Saturday and Aug. 3-6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Meroney Theater, and Sunday, July 31 at 2:30 p.m. For tickets, call 704-633-5471.