WITHOUT the burnished voice of James Earl Jones – sidelined since June 15 with pneumonia – the show can’t go on.

“On Golden Pond” yesterday posted a provisional closing notice, saying it will shut down Sunday unless the 74-year-old’s doctor OKs his return.

Jones, the voice of Verizon, Darth Vader and CNN, garnered some of the season’s best notices – and a Tony nomination – as curmudgeonly Norman Thayer, a retired professor determined to not go gently into that good night.

His standby, Broadway veteran Charles Turner, has been subbing for Jones. Since then, the cast has faxed Jones after every show with “Pond News” – tidbits about the production, onstage and off.

The show was initially slated to run till Labor Day at the Cort Theater, home lately to a stream of premature closings.