Review: On Golden Pond at Vintage Theater

This last friday my best friend surprised me with a couple of tickets to a play at the Vintage Theater. I was pleased to discover the play was On Golden Pond. What most of my friends don’t know is back in the early 1980s, the movie On Golden Pond was among my favorites for its quirky humor. The original movie starred Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda. The movie is a story about an elderly couple and their summer at their lake house. The movie is really about the long time connection between the elderly couple and how a teen boy who stays the summer impacts their lives which later leads to reducing barriers between the old man and his daughter. The play did an excellent job of paralleling the movie and was quite delightful; my best friend cried for quite a while after leaving the theater—it had that kind of impact on everyone there.

As I mentioned above, I’m a huge fan of the original movie, so I’m a very strict judge of this play. I know most of the lines in the movie and have my favorite scenes. The play managed to have amazing tempo and lines were delivered dead on from the movie. Some scenes were cut for time and to maintain tempo, but the meat of the story was retained. I think the only scene I would have liked seeing was near the end of the movie where the old man takes his daughter down to the dock and tries to teach her to swim. However, given the limitation of the stage, I can see why this favorite scene of mine was cut.

The acting was superb; all actors delivered their lines with feeling and emotion. At times, you could tell the audience was charged with emotion; everyone was moved by the scenes. I honestly can’t think of how this play could be improved. I was surprised to see such high quality from a small theater like this. I doubt I would enjoy it much more if it were on the broadway stage. If anything, I think it would have lowered the level of intimacy that is found in the small setting of the Vintage Theater. The props were also well crafted; it was obvious a lot of time and effort was put into creating the stage which was in the great room of the lake side cabin. Writing this two days later, I’m having a hard time thinking of things to fault the play at any level. Overall it was a superb performance and an absolute deal for the ticket price. I highly recommend On Golden Pond to anyone who likes quirky, eclectic stories.