Return to “On Golden Pond” at The Playhouse at Museum Village
MONROE — The Playhouse at Museum Village begins its 18th season with the classic, “On Golden Pond,” beginning Friday, May 3 for the first of nine performances.
Presented to great acclaim first on Broadway and then in the movies, “On Golden Pond” is a funny and warmly perceptive study of a spirited and lovable elderly couple facing their twilight years. This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory—but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years younger, and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things that continue to enrich their long life together.
Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.
The cast
The director is Terri Weiss, a teacher in the Valley Central School District. Previous directing credits at The Playhouse include “The Uninvited,” “Cabaret,” “Blithe Spirit,” “Bus Stop,” “Into the Woods,” “Once Upon a Mattress” and “Gypsy.”
Ethel Thayer is played by Karyn Meier, a Village of Florida resident and a member of the School Board. She was last seen in July’s production of “Plaza Suite.”
Norman Thayer is played by Jon Huberth, a graduate of Amherst College and the Yale School of Drama. He is an adjunct professor of drama at Manhattanville College and has directed and acted in scores of plays throughout the northeast including Manhattan Theatre Club and Williamstown Summer Theatre Festival. Recently Huberth directed the long-running off-Broadway play, “A Jew Grows in Brooklyn,” starring Monroe resident Jake Ehrenreich that they are now preparing for a television special.
Chelsea Thayer is played by Kathryn Burns. She lives in Goshen. This is her first production at The Playhouse. She returns to acting after a long hiatus of raising three daughters.
Bill Ray is played by Mark Von Oesen. He is a postal worker in Monroe. He was last seen at The Playhouse playing multiple roles in “The Dining Room. He has also been in “Cabaret” and “Blithe Spirit.”
Billy Ray is played by Neil Stevenson, a freshman at Burke Catholic High School. He was most recently in “Footloose” (Lyle). He was also in “The Little Mermaid” (Grimsby), “Once on This Island” (Papa Ge), “A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum” (Pseudolus), “Godspell “(All Good Gifts Soloist) and “Beauty and the Beast” (Cogsworth).
Charlie Martin is played by Joseph Burns. He lives in Goshen (married to Kathryn). A veteran to the stage for the past 35 years, he is a nurse practitioner with the Veterans Administration.
Essential information
Performances are scheduled for May 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m., and on Sundays, May 5 and May 19 at 3 p.m.
All performances are at The Playhouse at Museum Village, Route 17M, in Monroe.
Tickets to individual performances are $22 each, which includes dessert at intermission consisting of apple pie, ice cream, iced tea and coffee.
Group rates are available and reservations are suggested.
The Playhouse’s season continues with the July production of the madcap farce, “Lend Me a Tenor.”
In September, The Playhouse presents the Stephen Sondheim’s popular Broadway musical, “Follies.
Subscriptions that offer savings and other benefits are available for all three productions and can be obtained by calling the box office at 845-294-9465 or visiting online at ctmwp.org.
Creative Theatre-Muddy Water Players, Inc. is an incorporated, non-profit organization that has been performing in the mid-Hudson since 1978.