Susan Granger’s review of “On Golden Pond” (Ivoryton Playhouse)
Are you up for a road trip? Mia Dillon from Fairfield and James Naughton from Weston team up for a superb theatrical treat – “On Golden Pond” at the Ivoryton Playhouse, near Essex, Connecticut – and acting doesn’t get much better than this.
Watching and listening to their comedic interplay is as engrossing as sitting before any matched play of champions. Mia Dillon has an extraordinary presence and James Naughton has never been better. Their exquisitely modulated and richly satisfying performances exude a seamless simplicity. What a joy to see such talent endure.
If you’ve never seen “On Golden Pond,” written by Ernest Thompson, it revolves around Ethel and Norman Thayer, a retired professor and his perceptive wife who have always spent summers in her family’s rustic cottage on a tranquil lake in Maine.
While Norman is about to turn 80, this summer is no different – until their somewhat estranged daughter Chelsea (Stacie Morgain Lewis) arrives with her fiancé Bill (Josh Powell) and his snarky 13 year-old son, Billy (Sebatino Cruz).
Directed by Brian J. Feehan, the supporting cast is not only strong but displays a charming understanding of the faith and folly of aging that’s both funny and heartbreaking.
The only jarring note was when cynical Norman makes an obviously anti-Semitic remark. Perhaps in 1979, when the play was written, it was more acceptable to denigrate Jews. Now, it isn’t. That racist line should have been deleted because it comes across as a reprehensible verbal betrayal by a character whose curmudgeonly company we’ve come to enjoy,
FYI: The first Broadway production starred Frances Sternhagen and Tom Aldredge while Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda won Oscars for their respective roles in the 1981 movie version.
You can see “On Golden Pond” at the Ivoryton Playhouse through June 11. For tickets, go to ivorytonplayhouse.org.