There has never been a more perfect place to host the long run needed for the Grand Rapids debut of Mitch Albom’s baseball tribute play, Ernie, than Wealthy Theatre -- a venue both steeped in our history, and very much alive in all of us who have ventured under their marquee.
For this special run of the Albom’s play to benefit our local hospice, fans of the baseball great Ernie Harwell will have a chance to see firsthand the theatrical event that has been wowing audiences all over the state since its debut just a few steps from Comerica Park in Detroit in June 2011.
The play, set on his last day at the mic with the Detroit Tigers, was originally set to be a collaboration between the much-beloved voice of Michigan’s major league baseball team and the famed sports columnist and book author (Tuesdays With Morrie), but due to Ernie’s failing health after his retirement, Albom had to shelve the project in 2009.
After a brief period after Ernie’s passing in 2010 at the age of 92, Albom returned to the material he began years prior and found the perfect vehicle to tell the story of Ernie's life – a man, like many of our elders, who lived through interesting times and were able to emerge better and wiser as a result.
And while Albom is well-versed in the field of literature and could have traveled the book avenue he has traveled so successfully in his career, he felt that because Ernie lived his life for so many of us to see live that the telling of his story would have to be live and on stage as well. It is a fitting and heartfelt portrayal of a man who not only embodied the spirit of America’s love of baseball, but also as witnessed in this story a chance to share a wonderful tale worthy of our attention.
Tickets for this limited-run theatrical event are selling briskly with proceeds to benefit the Hospice of Michigan’s Open Access Program. Time is fleeting, so don’t miss this made-in-Michigan, original baseball drama while “The Voice of Summer” is still with us in Grand Rapids.
Admission: $30.
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