Excerpted from The Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio, Thursday, May 12, 2005
Village Players do justice to classic 'On Golden Pond'
By NANCIANN CHERRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The bulk of the problems that occur with the Village Players' production of On Golden Pond can be traced to outside forces.
The first is the memory of Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, which keeps intruding; the second is Ernest Thompson's play itself.
Right or wrong, some performers own their roles, and that ownership isn't relinquished for many years. Think of Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca or George C. Scott as the title character in Patton. It's hard to envision someone else playing those parts.
The same goes for Hepburn and Fonda as Ethel and Norman Thayer, the main characters in On Golden Pond.
Jean Mills and John Henry portray the Thayers in the Village Players production, and this talented pair keeps the ghosts of Hepburn and Fonda at bay - most of the time. They are comfortable together, and their performance as the long-married couple is easy and unforced.
The Thayers have returned to their cottage on Golden Pond in rural Maine, where they have spent summers for more than four decades.
Almost 80, the crotchety Norman - Ethel calls him an "old poop" - is obsessed with death. Ethel, 10 years younger, is much more vital, enjoying the lake, picking strawberries, watching the loons. She is used to Norman's behavior and most of the time it tickles her. But occasionally she sees frightening signs of frailty.
The Thayers have one daughter, Chelsea. A divorcee who lives on the West Coast, Chelsea hasn't seen her parents in eight years - she and Norman don't get along - but this summer, she writes to say that she and her new boyfriend, Bill, would like to spend a few days at the cottage.
Chelsea arrives with Bill, his 13-year-old son, Billy, and an excess of emotional baggage that shifts the tension levels in the cottage into overdrive. When she and Bill head off to Europe, leaving Billy behind for the summer, it's a palpable relief.
surprise of everyone, especially the two of them, Norman and Billy become soul mates, and their relationship helps to set the stage for a major confrontation when Chelsea returns from Europe.
Unfortunately, this becomes the second problem of the play. Despite its
strong emotions, On Golden Pond is a lightweight work: one good blow-up, and
things get resolved. This is a little hard to take, when we're made to
understand that Chelsea is carrying around 40 years of resentment over her
father's treatment.
The entire cast, however, is engaging enough to ease the uncomfortable feeling
that we've been had.
Henry and Mills are the kinds of performers who can carry a play with a glance, a harrumph, or an affectionate laugh. It's a joy to see them at work.
Susan Doktor portrays Chelsea as a woman who knows she has problems and wants to solve them but is unsure how. By turns warm and brittle, she puts quite a bit of emotional impact into her few scenes. A.J. LaPorta is fun and energetic as Billy, who finds in Norman an anchor in his stormy life.
This leaves Jim Trumm as Bill and Pat Mahoney as Charlie, the local mailman and handyman. The performers are pleasant, but the characters are so sketchy that they make little impact.
Although the play itself is shopworn, with dated references and slang, there is much to recommend it, including plenty of laughs and a fine cast working through a fascinating set of family dynamics.
Director Julie Zatko keeps a pleasant tempo throughout, and Wes Skinner's set design makes it easy to believe we're inside a shabby but much-loved cabin at the lake.
'On Golden Pond' runs through May 21 in the Village Players Theatre, 2740 Upton Ave. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for seniors and students. Information: 419-472-6817.
Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com or 419-724-6130.
Last Modified: 02/25/06