Jones And Uggams Splash In 'Pond'

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn played the leading roles in the 1981 movie, "On Golden Pond."

But before it moved to the big screen, it was a Broadway show, and now, it's come home to roost.

The revival of the play "On Golden Pond" stars James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams as elderly couple Norman and Ethel Thayer enjoying what is perhaps their final summer together at their home in Maine.

Jones and Uggams first performed this version of "On Golden Pond" at the Kennedy Center last fall in October. Uggams replaced Diahann Carroll, who had to leave the show because of severe back problems.

Uggams had less than a week to learn the part. "I thought they were crazy," she tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "And then I read the script, and then the next day I thought, 'What am I, crazy? James Earl Jones? Of course, I'm going to work this show.' "

It's interesting to learn that replacing Carroll led to playing the part on Broadway. In "Hallelujah Baby!", her first Broadway success for which she won a Tony, she replaced Lena Horne after she walked out.

Asked if she had worked with Jones before, Uggams says, "Sort of. Kind of. He had a show called 'Under One Roof,' and I was on it, but I didn't have scenes with him."

Jones notes, "One of the problems we had is, once we changed it to a full production, instead of a stage reading, it became more pressure. And that's when Leslie came to the rescue."

It's been about 17 years since Jones last performed for a Broadway audience. At the time, he was in August Wilson's play, "Fences," and won a Tony award for his portrayal of what one biography described as "a disenchanted Negro League baseball player."

It has been too long, Smith notes. "Well, my tradition is every 20 years," Jones says. "And this came along by accident and it's great serendipity for me. It's all an accident."

Decribing her character. Uggams compares Norman and Ethel's relationship to that of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

"It's a great love story between this couple," Uggams says. "They had this beautiful relationship, and part of the problem is the daughter feels that she's been always outside looking in because of the relationship."

In the 1981 film, Jane Fonda played the daughter, Chelsea Thayer Wayne. In the Broadway production, it is played by Linda Powell, who is the daughter of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. He was in the audience on opening night along with the rest of the family.

But what was amazing for them was that even though the play is not a comedy, there is always a lot of laughter in the audience.

"We would say, 'Why are they laughing?' " Uggams says. "We're speaking from truth. But it happens that what these people say just strike a nerve."

And it is getting rave reviews, something Jones says he does not take into consideration. "We can't take that stuff in," he says. "Makes us too self-conscious, good or bad."

Uggams adds, "We want everybody to come to see the show, because we think the play is a beautiful play. And people relate to it. There is something in it that everybody can relate to, situations that everybody goes through."

Jones is better known as the voice of Darth Vader "the half-man, half machine villain" in the "Star Wars" films; the voice of the animated character, Mustafa, the father of the lion cub Simba, in the film, "The Lion King;" and for pitching the calling features of "Verizon" and the Bell Atlantic "Yellow Pages" in TV commercials.

Leslie Uggams' last appearance on Broadway was in "Thoroughly Modern Millie."