Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at Fulton Theatre

The Fulton Theatre recently brought Tuesdays with Morrie to their fourth floor stage.  The show is an intimate two-hander consisting of conversations between a dying sociology professor and one of his estranged favorite students.  The show is directed by Matt Pfeiffer, who previously brought the intense and compact Blackbird to the same stage.

Pfeiffer is especially adept at taking relatively small stories and exploring their themes in large and important ways.  Not only is Tuesdays with Morrie is an examination of death and dying, but consequently a celebration and appreciation of life.  Those are some pretty deep concepts to explore in an 85 minute show with only two characters.  Nevertheless, Pfeiffer tackles it with aplomb.

Peter DeLaurier stars as the eponymous, Morrie.  It is very apparent that the character has a true love for life.  He is charming, smart, warm, and often very funny.  With such characteristics, DeLaurier would probably be a very popular and well-respected professor. That is what makes the show work.  It is not just about life and death.  It is also a celebration of teaching and learning.  As his estranged student, Mitch comes to recognize that most of our most important life lessons occur outside of the classroom.

Mitch is played by Jared Michael Delaney.  He is a very successful sports writer, who feels a certain obligation to reconnect with his favorite professor, learn from him, and to a certain extent, repay the debt of care and love that his mentor lavished on him so many years ago.  Delaney is convincing as a man who starts off doing something only by a sense of obligation, yet evolves into something personal and profound.

The two actors have solid chemistry.  The audience laughs, cries, and if they are lucky, has something to reflect upon on the way home.

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