BWW Reviews: ON GOLDEN POND at the Jungle

While my memory of the film version of ON GOLDEN POND was that this story was more about the father/daughter relationship, the Jungle Theater's ON GOLDEN POND was clearly more about the relationship between the two leads, Bain Boehlke and Wendy Lehr, both Ivey Award Lifetime Achievement/ McKnight Distinguished Artists, as the long-married couple who spend every summer for 48 years in their quaint cabin in Maine.

Norman (Boehlke) and Ethel (Lehr) Thayer return each summer, unpack and uncover the same items year after year. Only this year, Norman's restless and Ethel is not quite sure what to do with him. Norman's memory is not what it used to be, his heart has palapations and he is unnecessarily concerned with finding a part-time job.

Daughter Chelsea (Jennifer Blagen) does make her appearance and brings fiance Bill Ray (Michael Booth) and his son, Billy (Peder Lindell), who they leave for a month while they travel Europe and marry in Brussels. Norman and Billy establish a bond over fishing and teaching one another language (Norman teaches French, Billy teaches teen-speak).

The conflict between father and daughter barely registers in this production. Chelsea seems slightly annoyed with Norman at times but gets over her issues with him with barely a roar. More time in this production is spent on Norman and Ethel's relationship and the changes they encounter as they've aged.

Lehr's Ethel is a chattering wife who has clearly spent the last 48 years handling everything for the couple. She's sweet and tender, especially in referring to her lover as "you old poop." She's a caregiver who's taken more than her share of responsibility for their lives but she prefers it that way. In perhaps the most endearing scene, she recalls her girlhood across the pond at the local camp when she performs a dance from back in the day and exposes her vulnerbility, not just as Ethel but Lehr's own, too.

Boehlke's Norman is bordering on senility at times but still sharp enough to toss some zingers, like when Bill wants to make sure it's OK to sleep with Chelsea in the same bed and asks for his approval, to which Norman exclaims it's perfectly OK if Bill wants to violate his daughter in his own house. Norman (and the actor that plays him) comes alive the most when interacting with young Billy.

Lindell is a fine young actor. He does a fabulous job on stage. But he also appears to be about 10 years old vs. the 13-year-old Billy Ray who is interested in "chicks" and "sucking face" and all matters of post(?)-pubescent life. The casting of a much younger man is curious and threw me and others in the audience for a loop.

Mailman Charlie (E.J. Subkoviak) comes in and out of the house a couple times, and clearly never had a chance with Chelsea back in the day or now. His exaggerated northeastern accent also stands out a bit against the other actors, who don't try to affect an accent.

The scenes near the end of the play when Ethel and Norman are packing up to leave and Norman has an episode that scares his wife are the most tender of the show. Lehr shows Ethel's concern and fear of potentially losing her life partner with great empathy. Theirs is a love connection of a long lifetime.

Boehlke's intricate set design brings you right inside the old lake cabin with elaborate props that provide the feel and look of a well-worn home on the lake with all the trappings of summertimes of 48 years.

ON GOLDEN POND is a sweet, quiet, deliberate little show that gives two mature actors a chance to take the spotlight, and for that, it's worth seeing.

Tickets are available at (612) 822-7063 or online at www.jungletheater.com

Photo: Bain Boehlke and Wendy Lehr as Norman and Ethel Thayer CREDIT: Michal Daniel

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