Displaying items by tag: On Golden Pond

I remember when my dad, then a much younger man than I am now, had just lost his first parent. Anything—a TV show or a song or a greeting card or something he’d read—that hinted at aging or mortality could be an emotional trigger and start him crying. Most of the triggers were personal, but I remember the time he rented On Golden Pond on VHS. I don’t remember a thing about the movie—it wasn’t about a time-traveling Delorean or a Christmas Eve skyscraper full of terrorists or a theme park full of velociraptors—except that it was about just those two things—aging and mortality—and that long before the movie was even over, my dad was weeping.

All these years later, with me being much older than my dad, who himself passed away a few months back, I guess I’m now the ideal audience, the prime candidate, the mark, for On Golden Pond. I’d forgotten all about that 1980s video store rental incident until I attended the Skokie Theatre’s current production of Ernest Thomson’s play, directed by Wayne Mell and produced by Wendy Kaplan. But as soon as the metaphorical curtain rose, the real-life waterworks began.

The source material, of course, has such heartstrings tugging as its intent, but it requires a talented and sympathetic cast to make it work. And this cast works.

Bernie Rice’s Norman Thayer is everybody’s aging father (or father-in-law)—that combination of commanding your compassion (pity?) or and respect (fear?) at the same time. Towering, but faltering. Loud, but hesitant. Right, but maybe not as right as he used to be. Henry Fonda might’ve been my grandpa—handsome as all get out, but almost too iconic, too on the nose. But Bernie Rice sure could’ve been my dad—real.

Judy Rossignuolo-Rice’s Ethel Thayer, while dwarfed by her husband, filled the stage whenever she was on it, and played a woman who could be, who should be, a grandma. Her Ethel is just right. Just the right amount of sweet when it’s needed. Just the right amount of wise when it’s warranted. And always the right bit of sass and spunk.

The rest of the cast also fits right in on Golden Pond. Karyn Louise Doerfler’s just the right mix for her role—Ethel and Norman’s somewhat-estranged adult daughter, Chelsea—too. She’s a grown woman, so she doesn’t need any love or validation from her folks. But she’s still their daughter, and still vulnerable enough that she wants it (and, who am I kidding, it doesn’t matter how old we are, we still need that, which is the whole point of the show in the first place).

Chelsea’s stepson-to-be, Billy Ray Jr. is played delightfully and exuberantly by AJ Carchi, themselves a teenager, and one who also convincingly plays a teenager—skulking one second, mischievous the next, and in the end, in need of that same love.

Part of the family for decades is Peter Goldsmith’s rural mailman, Charlie—as quirky and lovable and vulnerable as Norman and Ethel and the rest, but he’s also the heart of the whole thing. Not just because if Charlie loves the Thayers, then we ought to love them, too. But Goldsmith brings a heart and an innocence to Charlie that not only seemed real, but that lit up any scenes he wandered into.

But this cast, and this production, really do create a family—that nostalgic, heart-tugging, greeting card, Norman Rockwell sorta family that maybe only ever existed in our heads. But it exists right now, on the stage of the Skokie Theatre, during their run of On Golden Pond, from now until February 25.

And I’d be remiss to mention the Skokie Theatre, itself. A Skokian of some two decades now, my own self, I’ve visited the charming silent-film-era place during its incarnations through the years. From watching a daughter take part in the long-gone Gorilla Tango Theater to the old black-and-white movies they show in the air-conditioned cool during each August’s Backlot Bash (named for the theater’s surroundings being the location of Hollywood’s pre-Hollywood backlot), I’ve watched it change. The current incarnation—beautifully and lovingly making this theater a home—is celebrating 10 years of creating art, creating community, and creating family, and their current production of On Golden Pond couldn’t be a more fitting way to do it.

At Skokie Theatre through February 25^th.

Kicking off their 25^th anniversary season, Theatre at the Center makes a strong impression by presenting Ernest Thompson’s touching classic On Golden Pond. This 1979 Tony-Award winning play was later adapted for the big screen where it starred Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn and won an Oscar. On Golden Pond is a warm and moving story that deals with the challenges an elderly couple are going through during their twilight years and also focuses on a tempestuous relationship between father and daughter. It is also a story of reconciliation and rebirth.  

Each year Norman and Ethel Thayer spend the summer at their quaint home on Golden Pond. Norman, pushing eighty-years-old is quite the curmudgeon and is still armed with a quick wit while Ethel, ten years his junior, finds all the little things in life wonderful. The pairing is super and utterly complementary to each other. While planning out his 80^th birthday party, the often cranky Norman constantly speaks to Ethel as though it will be his last, which is taken with a grain of salt by his always optimistic wife. Norman’s memory is slowly fading and he has heart palpitations, which doesn’t help his outlook on the future. When his daughter, Chelsea, and her boyfriend, Billy Ray, come up to the lake house to join the party, we realize the tension that exists between father and daughter and slowly begin to understand that it stems from Norman’s desire to have had a son. Soon, Norman and Ethel’s summer is interrupted when Chelsea asks that Billy Ray’s thirteen-year-old son stay at the lake house for a month while they travel to Europe. Norman, who was reluctant at first on the idea, quickly bonds with the boy and we see a change of heart and a new attitude on life begin to manifest.

On Golden Pond is filled with many life lessons and we are better for having seen it.

Dennis Kelly is superb as Norman. The veteran actor is able convey a truckload of meaning in just a simple line. Equally as impressive is Ami Silvestre as Norman’s bouncy and vibrant counterpart, Ethel, Silvestre is so cute you just want to shrink her and tuck her away in your shirt pocket. But together the two are simply off the charts. Their playful zinging back and forth and the concern and love for each other they are able to display is not only believable it is magical. Norm Boucher also delivers in a key contributing role as Charlie, family friend and neighborhood mailman by boat.  

Set in the interior of the Thayer’s summer lake home, we get plenty of heartfelt moments and surprisingly a good share of laughs that really balances out the show. This insightful love story is rich and the characters are perfectly layered creating an all-around well-themed, highly entertaining play that anyone of any age is sure to enjoy.

A quick thirty or so minutes from downtown Chicago, On Golden Pond is being performed at Theatre at the Center (1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana) through March 29^th. For tickets and/or more information visit www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com or call 800-511-1552.

*Photo - Dennis Kelly and Ami Silvestre as Norman and Ethel Thayer