'Grumpy Old Men' gets the movie-to-musical treatment with Hal Linden, Cathy Rigby and Ken Page lending their charm, but changes drain the story's warmth.
Despite above-the-title placement, Hal Linden, Ken Page and Cathy Rigby do not occupy the movie’s Lemmon, Matthau and Ann-Margret roles. Don’t be disappointed, though. They’re onstage a lot, and the leads are strong, recognizable players: Mark Jacoby, Gregory North and Leslie Stevens.Whereas the movie was just crass enough to give it a bit of crackle, the stage version feels as though it’s written entirely in insults and double entendres.
Jacoby wins the audience’s empathy as the more introspective combatant. Page lends his natural warmth — and lush bass — to a life-affirming role as the guys’ mutual pal, while Linden plays naughty-boy as John’s randy, 94-year-old dad. New to the story is Chuck’s sweet if daffily literal-minded cousin, portrayed in an unbreakable deadpan by Rigby.
Matt Lenz directs here, as he did in Maine, where Linden, Jacoby and Stevens all performed. The sets, props and costumes — envisioning Wabasha as a folksy place of cozy old homes and scruffy pines — have been rented from that production. Welcome to Wabasha, Minn. Its cartoony residents are played by, from left, Fatima El-Bashir, Leslie Stevens, Cathy Rigby, Ken Page and Heather Jane Rolff.
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