Oscar And The Pink Lady

Fans of great acting need to get to the Cassius Carter Theatre at the Old Globe in San Diego to see the brilliant Rosemary Harris in OSCAR AND THE PINK LADY. The play is a one person show which recounts the letters to God that a dying child writes in the last 12 days of his life and the colorful characters that inhabited his life in the hospital including the volunteer pink lady whom he calls Granny Pink. Granny Pink persuades the dying boy to think of every day as if he was getting ten years older. Oscar has felt abandoned by the world because no one will tell him he is dying. He feels betrayed by his parents and the adult world until Granny dares to tell him the truth and challenges him to live to the fullest for the next 12 days and in the process to reconnect with God (or is God another Santa Claus, the lie all parents tell their children), his fellow patients who have their own problems, and eventually his parents who after all are just mortals like himself and will have to die someday too.

This is an ingenious device that enables Oscar to prepare for his eventual death while never sacrificing many of life experiences. We experience the last days of Oscar’s life through the eyes of Granny Pink and the acting genius of Ms. Harris.  She recreates each moment of Oscar’s shorten life as he experiences in twelve days what most people take a lifetime to accomplish. He learns to follow his heart, fall in love, feel jealousy, get married, lose his way, find maturity as he finally accepts his parents and lets God into his life. The play by internationally renowned writer Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is translated from the French and reminded me of that wonderful children’s writer Antoine Saint-Exupery who enchanted us with “The Little Prince”. Under Rosemary Harris’ expert guidance the audience is able to look at their own fears about death and what it means to lose a child.

You may need two hankies to see this play but you will emerge full of hope and with a new appreciation for life. Thank the playwright and the wonderful Ms Harris for this touching journey.

CASSIUS CARTER THEATRE Old Globe Balboa Park San Diego Through Nov.4 For tickets call 619 234 5623