STAGE REVIEW : “Tribute” Is Engaging Blend of Sentimentality and Humor : Director Gregory Cohen overcomes mawkishness with a vaudevillian emphasis in his Garden Grove production.

Bernard Slade’s “Tribute” makes no apologies for its sentimentality. This play about a father who never grew up and his son who never acted like a kid is designed to tweak, if not downright yank, the heart strings.

It can get pretty mawkish as we watch dying screenwriter Scottie Templeton come to terms with his son, Jud, during a last summer together. Nonetheless, “Tribute” was a very popular play on Broadway during the 1978 season, was later made into a movie starring Jack Lemmon and continues to thrive at small theaters across the country.

At the Garden Grove Community Theatre, director Gregory Cohen takes advantage of the show’s most accessible trait--a lively, almost vaudevillian sense of humor--to make his production a diverting experience. Although there were flaws at the recent opening night (mainly a few blown lines), Cohen and his cast presented Slade’s comedy in likable ways.

The plot is straightforward: Scottie has leukemia and faces the terror that comes from knowing he is going to die. It’s an ironic end for a man who has spent his life making himself and other people laugh. The play involves plenty of jokes and some soul-searching by Scottie as he prepares for his fate.

What Scottie needs is a reconciliation with Jud, a young man who could be a walking definition of “anal retentive.” Jud resents his father because Scottie didn’t have enough time for him and, not knowing he’s dying, reluctantly agrees to visit him in Manhattan. Slowly but surely they develop a new love for each other.

“Tribute” rises or sinks on the characterization of Scottie, a fact that Joshua Kaye seems aware of. Kaye is a little overeager to please, but he still is able to show Scottie’s almost perverse love of life and his need to connect with his son.

As for Jud, Philip de Souza holds back a lot, which is right for the role. It’s a quiet performance that gets a bit noisier by the soppy ending as Jud miraculously grows from an introvert into nearly an extrovert.

In the supporting roles, Tekla Anderson is especially good as Sally Haines, Scottie’s spunky neighbor who becomes romantically involved with Jud. Patti Patronite as an ex-hooker and longtime friend of Scottie is also amusing, as is Manny Siegall as Lou Daniels, another of Scottie’s pals.

The lighting in “Tribute” can get demanding because the scenes shift from Scottie’s apartment to a last tribute for him in a downtown theater. Fortunately, D. Erich Marse’s lighting shifts from the bright to the shadowy easily. The uncredited set, though, is disappointing--Scottie, a guy with taste and a free-spending spirit, probably would have had fancier digs.

‘TRIBUTE’

A Garden Grove Community Theatre production of Bernard Slade’s play. Directed by Gregory Cohen. With Joshua Kaye, Philip de Souza, Ruth Siegall, Manny Siegall, Tekla Anderson, Patricia Miller and Patti Patronite. Lighting by D. Erich Marse. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through July 28, with a 2 p.m. matinee this Sunday, at 12001 St. Mark St., Garden Grove. Tickets: $5 and $6. (714) 897-5122.