In fine production of Deborah Persoff inhabits the role of eccentric septuagenarian Maude Chardin with a rambunctious glee.
* * * ½ comedy
Fans of the can rest easy. Persoff’s Maude is a lively elder lass who would get along just fine with the Maude originated by . The play, by Colin Higgins, who also wrote the screenplay, sticks close to the film.
The story: Poor little rich boy Harold (José “Zuni” Zuniga) is a disaffected youth who spends most of his time dreaming up bizarre but plausible suicide scenarios designed to provoke his mother (Sheri Wright, who is plummy and brilliant).
Harold meets Maude at a funeral. Both view funerals as something of a spectator sport. Harold is professionally interested; Maude likes to enjoy the farewell ritual.
Maude’s merrily outrageous anarchy — she digs up an unhealthy-looking city-owned tree to transplant to the forest; she prefers to “borrow” things instead of buying them — impresses Harold.
He’s used to living under his mother’s heavy thumb, reluctantly coming to heel when she calls, dutifully enduring (up to a point) the blind dates she sets up. Is it any surprise that he falls in love with this cheerful insurgent?
Director Pam Clifton has assembled an excellent cast. As Harold, Zuniga is appropriately dour and cautious, a perfect foil for Persoff’s sparkling Maude. Wright is perfect as Harold’s distracted socialite mother, a mercilessly written part that Wright manages to humanize.
Samara Bridwell plays all of Harold’s wildly unsuitable blind dates, distinguishing each regrettable personality with her own quirks. , who plays the Chasen’s African-American maid Marie, is hilarious, visibly disintegrating as Harold’s antics grow more extreme.
Douglas Clarke’s excellent, versatile set almost is a character itself, with elegant paneled walls that recede to become Maude’s borrowed apartment.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ byclairemartin
“HAROLD & MAUDE” By Colin Higgins. Directed by Pam Clifton. With Deborah Persoff, José Zuniga, Sheri Wright, Samara Bridwell, Lynn Nicholson, Sonsharae Tull, Joey Wishnia and Joseph Wilson. Through Nov. 8 at Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. Tickets $21 and up at vintagetheatre.com or 303-856-7830.
