TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

Never underestimate the power of a terminally ill title character. Especially when it's Morrie Schwartz, whose struggle with ALS inspired Mitch Albom's megaselling book, an Emmy-winning TV movie, and, undoubtedly, countless lives. In this stage version, we see how Albom (Jon Tenney, with a Stone Phillips 'do) went from self-involved sportswriter to Detroit Free Press columnist and Motor City personality -- all owing to his snow-haired ''coach'' (Alvin Epstein), a man who oozes needlepoint-ready wisdom. But the inimitable Morrie deserves better than this script, a patchwork-style, Reader's Digest distillation of its source material. Read the book. It's the only way to get the full Morrie.

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