An original comedy that first aired off-Broadway, On Golden Pond opened on Broadway in 1979 at the New Apollo Theatre and had a run of several months with 126 total performances. Two years later, it became a film starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, who both won Oscars for their performances. Since then, revivals of the show have included a popular 2005 production featuring Tony Award winners Leslie Uggams and James Earl Jones.
Written by Ernest Thompson, On Golden Pond follows a retired professor, Norman Thayer, who along with his energetic wife Ethel, returns to the family's cottage on a lake in Maine for one last summer. While there, they receive a visit from Chelsea, their estranged daughter, who brings tension as she flees the challenges created by her fiance's son.
A family-friendly work, On Golden Pond delves into themes of family closeness and growing older. It treats these themes with a delicate and light humor, but also with a depth of emotion.