Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at Iowa Stage

One of the surprising parts of this pandemic is that we have been able to take the time to step back and think about what impacts our lives. Sometimes it may be a person, other times it may be an event or show that we attend. Not being able to sit in a theatre the last few months has allowed me to sit back and think about the different theatre companies I have been able to see over the last year and a half and what makes them unique. One of those theatres is Iowa Stage. I've missed going to their shows and leaving the show challenged by what was being said in the show. So I was excited to hear that they were doing a one week run of "Tuesday's with Morrie," and it was being done as a virtual production.

Iowa Stage is returning with a virtual season after having to postpone their spring production of "The Cake" one week before opening due to Covid-19. This summer they were able to present a drive-in reading of "The Cake." They opened their fall season with a one day reading of Resident Artist Kery Skram's adaptation of Jane Austen's "Persuasion." Their fall virtual season will end with a one night only presentation of "It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio nPlay" on December 10.

If you aren't familiar with the New York Times Bestseller, "Tuesdays with Morrie," tells the story of Mitch Albom, a sports reporter, who is reminiscing about his college professor Morrie Schwartz. He starts by sharing about his years as a student in Morrie's class, which was always on Tuesdays. After college, he didn't keep up with his professor. That all changed one day when Mitch sees a Dateline report featuring Morrie who is struggling with Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS. Mitch decides it's time to go visit his professor again. As he sees Morrie's health decline, he starts visiting weekly, on Tuesdays, and as they meet, he begins to learn again from his professor.

I have to give Iowa Stage and director Matthew McIver credit for coming up with a unique way to tell this story. With Covid 19 not allowing us to go to the theatre, or for the travel that the story would require, they decided to tell the story as though Mitch and Morrie were meeting over a series of zoom chats. Doing it via zoom, allowed to transition between narration and the meetings with Morrie to be instantaneous. With the show not having any transitional time between scenes, it put it on the actors to portray the time that had passed with each meeting.

As the show starts, the first person we meet is Benjamin Sheridan as Mitch Albom. As he looks through the camera and starts speaking, it feels as though he is telling his story directly to you. This brings the audience into the story in a way I don't feel could be duplicated on stage. As the show continues Benjamin subtlety takes the audience effortlessly through this story of loss and shows us how each loss, both big and small affect his character. This intimate connection with his character makes the final loss in the show all the more poignant in the times we live in as we are separated from our friends and family.

Part of what I enjoyed was not knowing this story going into the evening. When I heard Iowa Stage was doing this, I very purposely tried to avoid knowing much about either character so I could go on this journey with them as though it was happening in real-time. The character who I had the biggest journey with was Tom Geraty as Morrie Schwartz. So I was not expecting this higher-pitched voice with a strong Yiddish accent. It caught me off guard at first, but it quickly became endearing. Watching Geraty, I found myself appreciating the subtle choices he made when it came to showing Morrie's illness. The choices he made allowed us to slowly see the effects the ALS had on his character.

Theatre has the power to move us, and make us think about the world we currently live in. With "Tuesdays with Morrie," Iowa Stage has taken on the monumental task of telling this familiar story in a brand new way. Performances of "Tuesdays with Morrie" continue for one week only, through Sunday, October 25th. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.iowastage.org/tuesdays-with-morrie

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