"A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life." And so goes one of the life lessons in Harold and Maude, about a 20-year-old boy obsessed with death and the 79-year-old woman who teaches him how to live. The movie was panned by critics as "tasteless" and was dismissed by Variety magazine for possessing "all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage" when it was released in 1971, but nearly four decades later, it's become a cult classic, beloved for its pre-Islam Cat Stevens soundtrack and anti-authoritarian take on life. Island Community Theatre pays homage to this quirky movie with a stage production at Gulfport's Catherine Hickman Theatre, which features Gabe McIntyre and Trudy Cornelius as the morbid Harold and vibrant Maude. Feb. 7-17, 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 1:30 p.m. Sun., 5501 27th Ave. S., Gulfport, $15. For more info, call 727-345-1474.
This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2008.