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Unlikely duo 'Harold, Maude' shine on stage
(by Herb Hammer - August 07, 2008)
Unlikely duo 'Harold, Maude' shine on stage
A rope with a noose hangs center stage. A very tall, very young man places a bench beneath the noose. He proceeds to stand on the bench, place the noose around his neck, and kick away the bench falling into the air, dead.
That's the very beginning of "Harold and Maude: An Intimate Musical" playing at Cain Park's Alma Theatre in Cleveland Heights.
As the 17-year-old hangs there, his mother enters, quickly instructing the new maid on how she should set up a dinner party. She glances at her son, and says something about his shoes and socks. This very brief look speaks volumes about her sadly suicidal son.
Harold stages many fake suicide stunts like committing hara-kiri and holding a gun to his head.
You wouldn't guess by this beginning that you will be watching a light musical comedy, but that's what Tom Jones (the Fantasticks) and Joseph Thalken have done to this 1971 failed movie.
Well, Harold's ritzy mother from hell tries everything to straighten out her loony son. An Army officer, a priest, a psychiatrist and a couple of blind dates, all wild and quite crazy, do him no good.
What does work for Harold is his accidental meeting with Maude, just turning 80 years old with a zest for life, that turns the sad, nearly numb Harold completely around.
Tom Jones does his best to stay on the same track as the movie. But his funny, often charming, lyrics are nothing at all like the Cat Stevens music in the film. Mr. Thalken's music is not at all the 1960s music of the movie.
This staged version of "Harold and Maude" is a love story between an octogenarian and a teenager which appears to be completely natural.
Maude's husband died in World War II and in one brief moment, Maude accidentally reveals she is a Holocaust survivor.
Victoria Bussert directs and, as only Miss Bussert can do, turns this very slight play into wonderful theater.
Corey Mach is exactly what Harold needs to be. Even when he awkwardly plays the spoons and sings with Maude, his final change from a depressed, nearly despondent youth to the life-loving youngster Maude has brought to him, he dazzles.
Maryann Nagel, who has graciously returned to the Alma, glows as the bright-eyed, aged hippie, Maude. Jacqueline Cummins as Harold's mother plays the heavy, the mother whom you'd love to escape from.
Devon Yates in several roles is terrific, especially as Harold's blind date Sunshine. Patrick Janson rounds out the cast playing each of his several roles so differently, one from the other, you're not sure it's the same person.
Russ Borski does his own special magic with his sliding sets, and Music Director Jodie Ricci works miracles with the small orchestra.
There is much to be said about life and death and the wonder of it all in "Harold and Maude." The show's crazy comedy and its romance are worth more than the price of a ticket.
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