Tuesdays With Morrie started life as a book and then became a television film "presented by" Oprah Winfrey, touching millions of lives in the process. It is the true story of sportswriter Mitch Albom's reunion with his college mentor, a life-loving sociology professor named Morrie Schwartz, who, in his last days, exudes vital wisdom in the midst of his battles with Lou Gehrig's disease.

Considering the story's beginnings as a sentimental memoir and TV movie, some might be inclined to doubt the stage-worthiness of this material, just as others might hesitate in casting too critical an eye upon what is clearly a personal story of human connection. In the end, the intimacy of the piece wi[...]