I cried for the majority of my drive home from Pine Farms Orchard last night. Having just witnessed King Theatre Company’s latest main stage show, Tuesdays with Morrie, I was moved beyond expectation. The stage adaptation, written by Jeffry Hatcher and Mitch Albom, beautifully distills Albom’s book into a ninety minute tour-de-force. Directed by King Theatre Company’s artistic director Chloë Rose Flowers, Tuesdays with Morrie is about life, friendship, and serves as a great reminder to never stop learning.

Once again this year, King Theatre Company has teamed up with the folks at Pine Farms Orchard to bring their summer offering to life. The porch has been designed to look like Morrie’s study: a typewriter, small globe, record player, and comfy armchair immediately give it a professorial feel. Adding to Morrie’s aesthetic is his tweed jacket with the leather elbow patches and bow tie. As the sun sets, Lisa Van Oorschot’s lighting design makes the performers sparkle, and completes the ambiance of a performance out under the stars.

“What I majored in was Morrie” – Mitch

Tuesdays with Morrie follows the journey of the author Mitch Albom as he reconnects with his favourite college professor. They went from spending tons of time together to not communicating for sixteen years. Mitch sees Morrie on Nightline, after Morrie’s received a devastating diagnosis. Mitch has a successful career as a sports writer, with TV and radio shows on top of his thriving column. But when he sees that Morrie’s not doing well, he immediately gets on a flight to come and visit him. One visit turns to two, then into every week for several weeks, and always on Tuesdays – “it was always our day” Morrie reminds him. Throughout these visits, Mitch records Morrie’s musings, asking him questions about life, love, relationships, and the inevitable: death.

Though the events themselves of Tuesdays with Morrie are heavy, the character of Morrie brings an undeniable lightness to the story. His whole outlook on life is inspiring, as he’s constantly looking for sources of joy in his life, even when he knows he doesn’t have much life left. For all of the sadness that I felt while watching it, Morrie had me laughing through the tears with his quick wit and sense of humour. One of his lines which I immediately wrote down is: “Taking makes me feel like I’m dying. Giving makes me feel like I’m living.” This line so embodies the way that Morrie has conducted his life as a teacher, husband, and father, and certainly acts as an example of how we should all strive to be. There’s also a beautiful breakdown of toxic masculinity within this text as well; Morrie always says goodbye with a hug, and Mitch gets “extra credit” if Morrie gets a kiss on the top of his bald head. Long before Morrie’s illness, he was craving connection, and so when Mitch starts coming around again, reteaches him the value of human touch, letting yourself cry, and letting your feelings show. Morrie was a man ahead of his time in so many ways; I can’t even fathom what he’d think about folks still gathering outside, sharing tissue with their neighbours to dry their tears, to hear his story.

Josh Palmer returns to King Theatre Company as Mitch and delivers a heartfelt and powerful performance. His vulnerability and care with not only his role, but his scene partner as well is beautiful to witness. Nicholas Rice’s Morrie will steal your heart; his jovial nature, funky (if not a bit Tevye-esque) dance moves, and ringing laugh make him undeniably loveable. His physicality so drastically changes as the story progresses and Rice deftly portrays it all.

A little note about a totally random occurrence last night, but one which shook me all the same. Morrie talks in the play about how he feels like a living corpse, not quite dead, not quite fully alive. For the latter portion of the play, there was this large black fly which kept circling back to Rice. Landing on his eye, his mouth, the top of his head. It was like it was on cue to prove Morrie’s point. Both Rice and Palmer did an amazing job handling the little pest, though. They both fully kept in character, with Palmer gently shooing it away once Rice’s Morrie was no longer able to do so. It was hauntingly beautiful.

At the end of his acknowledgements to the book “Tuesdays with Morrie” Mitch Albom asks “Have you ever had a teacher like this?” Yes, Mitch, yes I have. I have my own Morrie: a professor who has so profoundly changed my life, who continues to support me in everything I do, and who I would happily set aside life for in a time of need. He started teaching at the University of Windsor the same year I was in first year, and from that first class together, I knew we would become friends. What I could never have known then, like Mitch, is what a foundational role he would still play in my life all these years later. Thankfully, unlike Mitch, I keep in contact with him as regularly as I can; I also call every year on his birthday without fail. He helped to mold me into the scholar, writer, and thinker I am today. I am forever thankful for his presence in my life.

Tuesdays with Morrie runs until August 28 at Pine Farms Orchard in King City. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.kingtheatre.ca/tuesdayswithmorrie

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Cover Photo: Nicholas Rice and Josh Palmer. Photo by Landon Nesbitt.

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