Heights Players perform Neil Simon’s ‘The Gingerbread Lady’

April 5, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Director James Martinelli has directed dozens of plays in Brooklyn Heights and has worked as both a choreographer and director for the last 30 years at various theaters throughout the tri-state area and abroad. Photos courtesy of the Heights Players

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At the time of the creation of “The Gingerbread Lady,” Neil Simon, its writer, was the hottest, funniest writer on Broadway. He wrote this play to prove that under all that “Odd Couple” comedy, he had serious balls.

“The Gingerbread Lady” is darker and more serious than any other Simon play. This three-act play originally starred Maureen Stapleton, who won both the Tony Award for best actress and the Drama Desk Award. Directed by Robert Moore, it premiered in 1970 at the Plymouth Theatre and ran for five months, the shortest run for a Simon play .The play was produced by the Equity Library Theater.

The Heights Players’ production of “The Gingerbread Lady” opens today and will run through April 22.

The present -day director James Martinelli continues to modulate the tempo of this work until opening night. This play requires constant direction, reminding the actors of its dynamics and pitfalls — and there are many. Although the trust in the director is primary, it is hard for the actors to understand that for an audience to be interested in these characters, they need to be truthful and show their lives in a sometimes unflattering way.

Martinelli, a resident director of the Heights Players, has had the distinct honor of directing many of Simon’s plays. Martinelli’s personal experiences with such directors as Liz Swados has taught him much about the fascinating, always feeling and interpersonal relationships we call the human element.

“The Gingerbread Lady” is a dark drama with comic overtones centering on Evy Meara, a cabaret singer whose career, marriage and health all have been destroyed by alcohol. We meet her at the end of a 10-week drying-out period at a sanitorium as her friends, Toby Landau and Jimmy Perrino, and her daughter, Polly Meara, try to help her adjust to home and sobriety.

Although the title signifies a singular person, we find out that her friends and daughter are just as vulnerable. The play is full of highs and lows, ups and downs, keeping the audience transfixed. Along the Gingerbread journey we discover a dangerous ex-boyfriend, Lou Tanner, and a very proud and funny Delivery Boy — delivering much laughter.

Martinelli is a graduate of Brooklyn College and recipient of the Yvonne Fanter Award. James is an in-house director at the Heights Players, having directed dozens of plays in Brooklyn Heights. He has worked as both a choreographer and director for the last 30 years at various theaters throughout the tri-state area and abroad. His work as a dancer has been reviewed many times and described as “provocative.” As a dancer/choreographer, he infuses his training in all of his directorial projects, making them very natural and truthful.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.heightsplayers.org/box.html.