Getting older…together in “Fern Hill”
Photo credit: Carol Rosegg
Picture this: a weekend in the country with 6 great friends: three couples, with husbands all turning a landmark age. It’s a great reason to gather to celebrate life, friendship, and to ponder getting older together.
The question these friends raise (“what if we all live together and take care of each other?”) is at the heart of Fern Hill, written by television star Michael Tucker (“LA Law.”) This is a topic that I know has been discussed among my friends, and has been on the minds of many people (especially those without children) as time marches on.
It surely is fodder for good dinner conversation and that is exactly where this verbal exchange occurs during the play. But, a stunning revelation concerning the host couple takes place during the course of the weekend, threatening to tear them apart, and destroy the harmony of the six friends. It’s decided that the only way through this personal crisis is for the six friends to work through the problem as a whole.
Along the way, important observations about the state of marriage are uncovered. It’s deftly observed that unconscious power negotiations take place between a couple, often with authority handed to the husband, while the wife secretly resents that unspoken pact.
Michael Tucker has written some excellent lines, and provided insight into the depth of relationships. But I was really stuck on the larger issue of communal living in later years, and would like to see that concept more deeply explored.
The excellent cast featuring Mark Blum, Jill Eikenberry, Jodi Long, Ellen Parker with special kudos to John Glover and Mark-Linn Baker, are a joy to watch. Fern Hill is directed by Nadia Tass.
The run at 59E59 has been extended to Oct. 27.
To hear my interview with Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry, listen to my “Bagels and Broadway with Valerie Smaldone” radio show podcast at: Bagels and Broadway
For more theatre and food news, listen every Saturday morning 9-10 AM on WNYM-AM.
Valerie Smaldone is a 5-time Billboard Magazine Award winner and is well known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 on-air position in the New York radio market on 106.7 Life-FM, an iHeart station. She has hosted, produced, and created several award-winning nationally syndicated programs featuring in-depth interviews with stars like Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Mariah Carey among others. Her radio talk show "Bagels and Broadway" highlighted theatre and food personalities. She is an accomplished interviewer and voice artist heard on commercials, narrations, promos and audiobooks, as well as a sought after live announcer.
Most recently, Valerie produced and directed a film, The Thursday Night Club, featuring pop diva Gloria Gaynor in her movie acting debut. She is one of the creators and producers of a docu-series, Divine Renovation, starring Erik Estrada, on streaming networks soon.
