Florida National Tour REVIEW: Tuesdays With Morrie-As Grand as Gould

Tonight was quite an evening of theater. 'Tuesdays With Morrie' has been a best selling book and was also a well received television film starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. Of course, the theater, is our world's most special way of story telling. We, the audience gather in the dark and suspend our disbelief hoping to achieve an experience not available in book form, film, recording or television.

It is a great task for a play featuring only two men to involve us, excite us, educate us and indeed entertain us. So, the challenge was, can this production of Mitch Albom's 'Tuesdays With Morrie,' be special enough to let us dole out the cash for the theater tickets and the other expenses involved, as well as missing ABC television's Commander in Chief (the superior Boston Legal did not air an episode tonight) and other fine fare available in the comfort of our own homes?  Oh yes.

For 'Tuesdays With Morrie' is a subtly captivating play. Then again, this is not a play or a production that is groundbreaking or revolutionary in any way. But, this is indeed an elegantly simple story, and that is the way it has been written (by Albom and co-author Jeffrey Hatcher) and directed by Michael Montel. This play does indeed come to life onstage and there is nothing quite like the magic of live theater. There are things that happen onstage in Morrie that we don't want to see and there are words that we don't want to hear. As you watch the play, you find Morrie's progressing illness 'creeping up on you' and ultimately leaving you heartbroken.

It is a joy to see Harold Gould performing onstage. His decades of work have seasoned him just perfectly to tackle this fabulous role. Best known to us for having played Rhoda's father on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda and Rose's boyfriend Miles on The Golden Girls, Gould is a warm, comforting and welcome presence from the moment we first encounter him onstage in 'Tuesdays With Morrie.'   His Morrie is funny, crude, lovable, warm, brilliant, spry, sickly and ultimately, absolutely touching.  At this evening's show, Harold Gould as Morrie, gave a performance I never would have dreamed this actor had inside him.

Just as surely that Morrie knows he is going to die, we know he is not going to die before greatly enriching the life of his former student. The young man of the piece is lovingly underplayed by the dashing Dominic Fumusa. His is not a flawless performance. However, his Mitch was always a worthy match for Morrie, never less than top notch and he ultimately brought the audience to tears.

It is the emotional volleyball of these two actors portraying these characters that bring sparks to the Parker Playhouse. This is no maudlin evening presenting an 'oldster' teaching the 'values of life' to a youngster. That has been done many times before. 'Tuesdays With Morrie' is a real journey; one which explores the joy these two men bring to each other's lives.  There are 'Hallmark Card' elements to the story and a bit of TV 'movie of the week' moments in the script, to be sure. But, then again, the essence of live theater and the sublime work of Mr. Gould are what make this 'Morrie' a fetching evening away from our TV s, DVDs and Tivos.

The final performance of 'Tuesdays With Morrie' at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse is December 18.

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