Published: October 29, 2008 04:50 pm      

THEATER: Convincing performances mark ‘Morrie’

The Niagara Regional Theatre Guild’s production of “Tuesdays with Morrie” is simultaneously poignant and uplifting, with powerful performances by its two-man cast.

The play, with two more shows this weekend at the Cardinal O’Hara Performing Arts Center, is based on the best-selling book by Mitch Albom. It is the true story of the sportswriter and his reconnection with his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Mitch seeks out Morrie 16 years after graduating from Brandeis when he happens to see his former professor on “Nightline” and learns he is battling the fatal disease. Mitch visits Morrie, then begins a weekly pilgrimage to take a last class in the meaning of life.

Tim Voit as Mitch and Doug Smith as Morrie tug at the heartstrings with insightful interpretations of this well-written material.

The play’s credentials are an interesting blend of veteran and emerging theater. Voit is an up-and-coming actor with a degree in musical theater from the University at Buffalo, while Smith has had a long and varied career as a TV personality, reporter, theater critic, actor and now columnist with his wife, Polly, for the Grand Island Record.

The play, essentially two people talking to each other book-ended by musical wisps of action, is a natural for the small or big screen. On television, Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon’s Mitch and Morrie had the advantage of close-ups, fame and all that a network budget could buy to convey the dynamics between the two.

The recent Studio Arena production starring the inspirational Manny Fried as Morrie had the added advantage of a sophisticated sound system and elaborate production values.

Smith and Voit have each other, a minimalist set and a theater group that knows how to make the best of what it has.

It is enough.

By the end of the performance, if you haven’t shed a tear, you probably suffer from chronic dry eye syndrome.

The inherent challenge for the players is to achieve a lively contrast and interplay on stage between the young, vibrant, successful journalist and his old, increasingly immobile mentor.

Voit effectively portrays the frenetic energy of achieving and maintaining a media career. Early on in the one-act play, he is all about multi-tasking, juggling cell phone, airport, girlfriend, sports superstars and TV producers at a furious pace.

Smith is masterful in conveying the energy of ideas that is Morrie’s forte. As an old man, Morrie has two tasks left: Die with dignity, and pass his wisdom to the next generation. Smith has a daunting task, as well: Delivering a compelling performance with minimal action. Morrie’s physical energy disappears before us on stage, as the disease freezes his muscles and robs him of the breath that sustains him.

Smith, without the benefit of that big TV close-up, nonetheless grabs big chunks of the audience’s heart. He does so with little movements and careful gradations in his voice. From a whisper of encouragement to a yowl of pain, his Morrie plays out the gamut of reactions to the Job-like trials of debilitating disease.

Smith’s Morrie cajoles his pupil’s better self out of the bundle of nerves he has become with two nagging questions: “Are you at peace with yourself?” and “Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”

Mitch is at the top of his game and is finding it hard to enjoy life; Morrie is nearing the end of his, yet can exult, “I get to be a baby again.”

Mitch learns to physically nurture the man who feeds his soul, and the symbiotic relationship is the stuff of powerful drama.

“I’m dying, and I can live with that. You’re dying, too, only slower,” Morrie tells his receptive student. Living unhappily, he shows, is far worse than dying with an appreciation of life’s worth.

The lessons aren’t lost on Mitch. As Voit travels along the play’s guided path of self-discovery, he captures the humanity of his character’s transformation under his professor’s tutelage. From brusque self-confidence to warm humility, Voit’s performance is an affecting transition.

And Smith’s sensitive reading of the material illustrates a life-affirming path to dying, complete with engaging flashes of comedy and tragedy.

Director Les Bailey is to be commended for evoking fine performances from his two leads and achieving a balance of energy on stage. The way the two actors bring Albom’s slim book to life is a revelation.

As the play draws to a close, we see the end of one man’s life and the true beginning of another one that he inspired. It’s a lesson we can carry with us.

Karen Keefe is city editor of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal.



IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Tuesdays with Morrie”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Oct. 31 and Nov. 1

WHERE: Cardinal O’Hara Performing Arts Center, 39 O’Hara Road, Town of Tonawanda

MORE INFORMATION: Call 284-6358