For most of the first act of "On Golden Pond," you want to take one of the corny hats Norman Thayer Jr. is always wearing and cram it right down his mean, sarcastic throat. And that is a tribute to actor Doug Rowe, who plays the 80-ish curmudgeon in Oregon Stage Works' warm-hearted new production of Ernest Thompson's family tear-jerker.
Because unless Thayer starts out with his heart encrusted deep in a lifetime's worth of ice, he wouldn't have much of an arc to travel to get to the melting. And since Rule 43-B of playwrighting is that the melting of an impacted heart is best achieved through the intercession of a child, when Billy Ray (Kyle Barnes) enters, we know the thawing is at hand.
Norman has been sensing the nearness of death, can almost feel its icy hand. His step falters, and his memory plays tricks. The sense of loss and the obsession with death combine with a lifetime of private regrets to make the Thayers' annual summer retreat to Golden Pond in the Maine woods even more of a pain than usual for his wife, Ethel (Brandy Carson).
They've been coming for half a century, and Norman senses it's his last time. Ethel takes him in her stride. When she really loses it, she goes so far as to call Norman "a poop."
But a family tear-jerker needs more than that brewing, and things ratchet up with the news that the couple's only child, Chelsea, now divorced and in her 40s, will visit from California. She'll have new beau Bill (Sam King) and his 13-year-old son, Billy, in tow.
Advertisement | |
The rift that must be healed for Norman to move on is not between him and Ethel — although she must have spent most of a lifetime putting up with the old poop — but between father and daughter. Norman had wanted a son, and Chelsea, despite her efforts as a fisherwoman and swim-team member, could never measure up.
This is not entirely believable, of course. If that's what's been hanging you up for 40-something years, well, some families have real problems.
The thing that ups the ante on all this is that the clock is running on Norman's ticking, if palpitating, heart, and healing, if it is to come, must get a move on.
"On Golden Pond" is sweet, homogenized, predictable and unabashedly sentimental. Billy is a plot device more than a believable character; he is required for his impact on Norman. We buy into the whole thing mainly due to the chemistry between old pros Rowe and Carson. Their scenes together are a joy.
Bruce Hostetler's direction is vigorous and keeps things moving nicely through the comic scenes. But when the emotional climax comes it does not deliver the wattage we expect. The melting is understated and abrupt. I saw nary a tear. You mean that's all there was to it?
Doug Ham's set is a knockout, transforming the somewhat cavernous Oregon Stage Works room into the warmth of a cozy cabin in the Maine woods. Ham, who teaches at Ashland High School, was resident designer at Playhouse West in Walnut Creek, Calif. He has here created the most powerful and elaborate set I have seen in this theater. One wonders if it's a sign of things to come.
"On Golden Pond" is, like "The Philadelphia Story," a play that will forever be linked to a fine film version. It is a pleasant diversion, rather than challenging theater. It will play through Feb. 25 at Oregon Stage Works in Ashland.
Through an arrangement with Jefferson Public Radio, OSW will take the play to the Cascade Theatre in Redding, Calif., for performances March 1 to 4.
Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or bvarble@mailtribune.com.
