New York ? Morrie Schwartz never had a problem with grown people crying. So he probably wouldn’t have minded that seven years after his death, his lessons — in their various forms — are still bringing people to tears.

The latest addition to the “Tuesdays With Morrie” curriculum is a stage adaptation of journalist Mitch Albom’s longtime best seller, which recounts his final life lessons with Schwartz, his then-dying mentor. The one-act play opened in November at off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre to sniffling audiences and mixed reviews.

Albom, 44, acknowledges he never expected more from the book than the planned, one-time printing of 25,000 copies. He certainly didn’t expect a four-year run as a best seller, translations into more than 30 languages, an Emmy Award-winning TV movie and now a theatrical version, which comes closely on the heels of a successful paperback release.

In addition to all these permutations of the “Morrie” phenomenon, there is even the documentary account. The complete recordings of Schwartz’s Tuesday tutorials can be downloaded from Albom’s Web site.

“I wanted people to hear Morrie’s real voice,” Albom says. “That’s very important.”

Emotional support

Nationwide television audiences first heard Schwartz’s voice in a series of appearances in the mid-1990s on ABC’s “Nightline.” In 1994, the Brandeis University sociology professor was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the terminal illness known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His interviews with Ted Koppel on the subjects of living and dying gained him instant celebrity and an outpouring of emotional support.

That’s where a channel-surfing Albom, a nationally syndicated sports columnist, rediscovered his old teacher. In their ensuing weekly meetings, Albom reconnected with Schwartz — and himself.

The book, a light read despite the obvious gravity of the subject, was an instant success. Albom used his advance money to pay off Schwartz’s medical expenses. Reactions from readers who had their own stories of loss gave Albom a gratification he never anticipated.

When it came time to write a screenplay for the television movie, Albom declined. It was still soon after he had finished the book and it didn’t feel right to dive back into the work.

“They took a lot of liberties with the story,” he says.

Controlling stage version

Albom decided he wanted more control in creating the stage version, but needed help with an unfamiliar medium. Enter Jeffrey Hatcher, who wrote “A Picasso” and “The Fabulous Invalids,” among other plays. Hatcher’s latest project is writing the book for “Never Gonna Dance,” a musical based on the 1936 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film, “Swing Time.”

“It’s not every playwright that would co-write a play with somebody,” Albom says about his collaborator. “He’s been very good about it.”

The two started fresh, working from the book and going back to the original audio. At the time, Hatcher was still grieving the death of a family member. Delving into the material stirred some of his own unresolved emotions. This personalization, he says, is what makes the story elicit tears in so many. “People are echoing back on their own lives.”

Of course, somewhere in the grueling work of combing through 60 or 70 hours of tapes, “there was a middle period that was highly technical,” Hatcher said.

He and Albom exchanged notes and drafts by way of e-mail, incorporating into the script some parts of the lessons that were left out of the book.

‘Great legacy’

As the play evolved, the number of players was trimmed to only the two essentials. Alvin Epstein plays Schwartz, and Jon Tenney plays Albom. The 14 Tuesdays recounted in the book were condensed to six. The 90-minute production, directed by David Esbjornson, is decidedly bare bones, with a sparse set.

Albom hopes that because the play is relatively easy to produce, it will appeal to high school and college theater companies. “That would be a great legacy for a teacher,” he said.

With more than 5 million copies in print, the book “Tuesdays With Morrie,” and everything that came with it, was a sharp curve ball in an already accomplished sports writing career. Albom continues to cover sports as a columnist and an ESPN panelist, but also hosts a national talk radio show that focuses on a wide range of topics outside of sports. He is close to finishing a novel, which is his first run at fiction.

As for books, Albom says, “I don’t think I’m writing about sports anymore.”