As a text, Ernest Thompson's "On Golden Pond" is an exercise in restraint, about the subtleties of interaction between husband and wife and parents and children. As a theatrical production at the Kennedy Center, it is an exercise in using comedy to galvanize that restraint, which lends tenderness to some scenes and triviality to others.
Make no mistake - it is a pleasure to watch venerated veterans James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams riff on the characters of Norman and Ethel Thayer, the elderly couple enjoying one last summer in their cottage on Golden Pond. They putter around the dusty cottage, trading barbs and affections. Norman is the consummate curmudgeon - ornery, sharp-tongued, fixated on his advancing age. Ethel is Norman's foil - a sweet, personable, accommodating wife and mother.
Their summer is complicated by the arrival of their daughter Chelsea, her boyfriend and his son. Old family tensions bubble to the surface.
But "On Golden Pond" never tilts into drama. There are a few dramatic moments, but the play is defined by Jones' comic delivery. He holds the audience in the palm of his hand, winning laugh after laugh with his deadpan glares and condescending manner. It's surprising Jones hasn't been tapped for this role before. He fits into the character of Norman Thayer beautifully, and his grave, resonant voice owns the stage.
The deep, revelatory moments belong to Uggams, whose saccharine temperament shatters when Chelsea calls Norman a bastard. She slams her hands on a table, shoots Chelsea a searing stare and bellows, "That bastard is my husband!" The change in Uggam's tone was startling and wonderful. You could hear people stop chewing their gum.
Most of the show, however, is played funny, even when the text is straight. So when the "climactic" scene comes, it does not carry the proper weight. It does not deflate the production, but it does distract from itself. The dramatic tension that was simmering beneath the veneer of comedy is unfortunately never brought to the surface.
In the climax of the 1981 film version, Katharine Hepburn cradles Henry Fonda in her arms on the porch of the cottage. The scene is played for its drama rather than its comedy, and Hepburn and Fonda paddle the material out to deep water, and bring the viewer with them. Jones and Uggams, as entertaining as they are, don't wade over their heads.
