50 | AUGUST 4 • 2022 

I

t’s been 25 years since 
Mitch Albom’s book 
Tuesdays With Morrie has 
been published and almost 
that long since the adapt-
ed play has been produced 
around the world — except in 
Michigan.
That omission is being cor-
rected this year as 
the play, written 
by Albom and 
Jeffrey Hatcher, 
appears in six the-
aters around the 
state with Michael 
Russotto as 
Morrie Schwartz 
and Cody Nickell as Mitch 
Albom.
The book and play relate 

the conversational experi-
ences shared by Albom and 
Schwartz, Albom’s former 
college professor stricken with 
ALS (amyotrophic lateral scle-
rosis), which gradually dimin-
ished the man’s capability for 
movement.
The play, in conjunction 
with the new release of the 
book, will be shown in the 
cities listed above, starting in 
Traverse City and ending in 
West Bloomfield. It portrays 
the conversations the two 
shared about their values and 
experiences.
Before the play is acted out, 
Albom had a conversation 
about its contents and after-
math with the Detroit Jewish 

News, and that is summa-
rized here. Ticket prices will 
benefit Hospice of Michigan, 
Centrica Care Navigators and 
Michigan College Alliance.

TALKING WITH ALBOM
JN: What made you decide 
to stage this production in 
Michigan?
MA: The play debuted in 
New York City and did well. 
Then they decided to put it 
on a national run in 25 cities. 
I was in the newspaper and 
on radio and ESPN, and there 
were a number of theaters in 
the area that wanted to do it. 
That would have meant play-
ing favorites of some kind. It’s 
had close to 600 different pro-

ductions around the world, 
including Israel, Switzerland 
and India. In conjunction 
with the 25th anniversary of 
the book, we said we would 
bring the show to Michigan. 

JN: Any script changes in 
this new production?
MA: No. It’s kind of a 
timeless play. There aren’t 
references to current events 
that go on. It’s intimate, loving 
and funny. We laughed a lot. 
Morrie wanted to laugh and 
be silly. We captured a lot of 
that in the play. 

JN: Have you kept up with 
the medical elements in treat-
ing ALS, also known as Lou 
Gehrig’s disease?
MA: Very much so, but the 
advances are not as I wished. 
There are some on the verge 
of breakthroughs, some very 
promising potential drugs, 
some very promising research 
that suggests maybe they can 
understand this. I’m very 
involved with Augie Nieto, 
who has ALS and has been 
known as a multi-millionaire. 
In his late 40s, he contracted 

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

COURTESY OF MITCH ALBOM

VINCENT WAGNER (SHACK)

Mitch 
Albom

Tuesdays With Morrie
Mitch Albom’s celebrated play is coming to Michigan.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Details 
Tuesdays with Morrie can 
be seen according to the 
following schedule: Aug. 
10-14, City Opera House, 
Traverse City; Aug. 17-21, 
Wharton Center’s Pasant 
Theatre, East Lansing; Aug. 
24-28, Kalamazoo Civic 
Theatre, Kalamazoo; Aug. 
31-Sept. 4, Wealthy Theatre, 
Grand Rapids; Sept. 8-11, 
Great Lakes Center for the 
Performing Arts, Bay Harbor; 
and Sept. 14-18, Berman 
Center for the Performing Arts, 
West Bloomfield. For more 
information and tickets, go to 
MITCHALBOM.com/TWM25.

