review by Alec Clayton
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| Derek Mesford as Flap and Ana Bury-Quinn as Emma, photo by Dennis K Photography |
Run, drive, crawl to Tacoma Little Theatre to see Terms of Endearment—unless you’re not vaccinated; if you’re not vaccinated and masked, you can’t get in, and kudos to TLT for that.
I’m guessing that many of you are familiar with the story.
The stage play is adapted by Dan Gordon from the novel by the great Larry
McMurtry and the screenplay for the 1983 movie by James L. Brooks.
It is inevitable that the principal characters: Stephanie
Leeper as Aurora, Ana Bury-Quinn as Emma, Scott C. Brown as Garett, and Derek
Mesford as Flap Horton, will be compared with the screen actors in those roles:
Shirley McClain, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson and Jeff Daniels. I kid you not,
these actors are every bit as stunning in their roles as were their movie counterparts.
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| Stephanie Leeper as Aurora and Scott C. Brown as Garrett, photo by Dennis K Photography |
Women who have had a difficult love-hate relationship with her mother will relate to the bantering between Aurora and Emma, and anyone who has ever enjoyed a loveable rake such as the old astronaut Garrett, who is the over the hill astronaut, and a drunken seducer of young women will be wonderfully surprised at the rocky relationship between Aurora and Garrett.
Bury-Quinn plays Emma so naturally it seems she appears to
be not acting at all but simply is Emma. In the opening scenes, Leeper seems not
so natural as Aurora, but soon what seems to be strained acting is actually the
visible proof of Aurora’s eccentricity. And then there’s infuriating and
loveable Brown. Outside of Jack Nicholson there are few actors anywhere whose
stage or screen presence is so dynamic and unforgettable. It is notable that Brown
was equally outstanding as Randle
McMurphy, another character played by Nicholson, in the 2008 performance of One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at Lakewood Playhouse.
Director Blake
R. York said in a program note that the script called for moving a lot of furniture
around on stage and that he and Kathy Pingle, who was originally slated to
direct, agreed that moving furniture would detract from the real crux of the
play—relationships between people. The static set by York and his wife, Jen, works
perfectly. The projected images on picture frames and windows adds just the
right touch without being obtrusive.
Terms of Endearment flows easily from comedy to
tearjerker. Bring handkerchiefs.
WHAT
Terms of Endearment
WHEN
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m., Sunday through Sept. 26
WHERE
Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N. I Street, Tacoma
COST
$27 Adults - $25
Students/Seniors/Military - $20 Children 12 & Under
LEARN MORE
https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/