Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE a Winner at Sierra Madre

Tuesdays with Morrie/by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom/directed by L. Flint Esquerra/Sierra Madre Playhouse/through March 31

Was there a mentor apart from family who gave you the inspiration to change the way you lived your life?

Based on Mitch Albom's book entitled Tuesdays with Morrie in which he details his relationship with Professor Morrie Schwartz at Brandeis U in Massachusetts in the late 70s, the two character play is currently receiving an insightful and enjoyable production at Sierra Madre Playhouse through March 31. With meticulous direction from L. Flint Esquerra and splendid performances from Larry Eisenberg as Morrie and Jackson Kendall as Mitch, the play should be a popular hit with audiences young and old.

Morrie is a sociologist. Mitch is a fine pianist who spends Tuesdays every week with Morrie in a sociology class durng his undergraduate years. They become fond of one another. Morrie is affectionate and close to his students, whereas Mitch is somewhat distant, afraid of commitment and insecure about his feelings about life in general, yet still affable.

Young and inexperienced, he goes home to Detroit after graduation to spend time with his older brother who is dying of pancreatic cancer. Mitch finds this whole dying process intolerable, and while brother Mike screams out in pain, Mitch pounds the keys of the piano to block out the noise. Mike dies and Mitch, still aloof and unfocused, dates a singer named Jeanine, He finds a job, not as a pianist, but as a newspaper reporter. During a sixteen year period he works diligently as a journalist and becomes engaged.

One night in front the television he sees his old teacher, or "coach" Morrie, talking about his bout with ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Afraid to face Morrie, but sensing an inexplicable responsibility, he flies to Boston, picks up Morrie's favorite food, egg salad, and pays him a surprise visit. The relationship that they began sixteen years prior starts to rekindle and Mitch agrees to visit Morrie on Tuesdays ... until the end. Their agreement entails tape recorded sessions, in which Morrie continues to play coach, answering Mitch's questions about the meaning of life..

The play is a tad too long and much of what the two men discuss we have heard repeatedly, but Morrie's genuine, uplifting and humorous nature and his unrelenting desire to infuse Mitch with embracing life fully is infectious. "Taking is dying, giving is living", according to Morrie and gradually Mitch comes around. He even allows Jeanine, whom he has since married, to visit Morrie, at Morrie's request, and she too becomes enamored of his indomitable spirit. The ending is sad, as Morrie succombs, but he makes Mitch promise to visit him at the cemetery, to bring a picnic lunch and to continue their talks. "You talk, I'll listen", he promises. Death is a topic that many avoid and find maudlin. However, it is treated in a very real fashion in the script, and Morrie's optimism keeps it all on track without one bit of sentimentality.

Under Esquerra's loving direction, both Eisenberg and Kendall render superb performances. Eisenberg really has fun playing Morrie. Morrie is quick witted, physically agile and emotionally committed, even in his moments of great discomfort. He is a born educator and Eisenberg never lets us forget that. Mitch, in reverse, like most of us, is a student, who never stops learning. Kendall makes him ultra thoughtful, supportive, and most importantly, he brings out Mitch's resignation to compromise in order to make Morrie's final days bearable and somewhat happier.

Amanda Knehans's set design with wooden panels is functional and Michael Mullen's costumes plain and simple as befitting both characters' daily living.

Don't miss this sweet play at Sierra Madre Playhouse through March 31! You will be entertained and rejuvenated by Morrie's positive attitude toward living.

www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

(photo credit: Gina Long)

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