The current production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” is his sixth to play on Broadway. It more than meets any challengers.
For those unfamiliar with the play, don’t expect a homey picture of a quaint village somewhere in the sticks. No, Wilder deals with universal ideas. He presented the miniature but always poised it against the monumental.
We see a spare set, designed by Beowulf Boritt. Our guide for the performance is the Stage Manager, who is shrewdly, seemingly uninterested, and neutrally played by Jim Parsons. He lays out the physical aspects of our town: Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. There are mountains around; there are several varied institutions of worship.
Two families form the cornerstone of the play: the Webbs and the Gibbs. Mrs. Gibbs (Michelle Wilson) is married to Doc Gibbs (Billy Eugene Jones), the major physician of the town. Mrs. Webb (Katie Holmes) is married to Mr. Webb (Richard Thomas), editor of the Sentinel.
The major players go about their daily routines. Doc Gibbs delivers a couple of newborns. Mr. Webb gets the newspaper settled in.
The wives have a general conversation as they pantomime their household chores. But it comes up that Mrs. Gibbs was approached by a second-hand dealer who offered to pay $350 for her antique clock. Mrs. Webb says that Mrs. Gibbs must take the fabulous offer. She'd be able to go on a much-needed vacation to Europe with her husband. Mrs. Gibbs counters with the fact that she could never get her husband out to see another country, “this one’s good enough for him!”
The main action is the relationship between teenagers Emily Webb (Zoey Deutch) and George Gibbs (Ephraim Sykes). George offers to carry Emily’s books for her; she helps with his homework, ethically of course. They have an ice cream soda together.
The die is cast. George decides he won’t go away to college like he wanted; he'll stay in Grover’s Corners and become a lifetime farmer.
The wedding-day scene is all-encompassing. We visit the bride and groom in their respective homes. George is calm and noble at first. Then, he admits to nerves. Emily is near hysteria. She has once questioned if she’s pretty. Her mother assures her that she is “pretty enough for all normal purposes.”
The chorus sings beautifully under the musical direction of Simon Stimson (played strikingly by Donald Webber Jr.). The only drawback is that he’s the town drunk, which people talk about quietly. He must have his problems, Dr. Webb says.
An Emphasis on Tolerance
The townspeople tolerate differences. Director Kenny Leon has pulled out his directorial stops to show this: The Gibbs are black; the Webbs are white. The paper delivery boy is deaf; he converses with ASL; others reply in kind. Arguably, tolerance is the catch word.After the wedding, we approach the final and arguably the most telling moments of Thornton Wilder’s modest-seeming masterpiece. We move from the cemetery to Emily’s visit to the past and to her final resignation.
Here, a magnificent lighting effect takes place: Globe-shaped lights placed on high from front stage into audience. They cast a starlight effect on the whole stage and audience. It’s a mesmerizing effect.
Kenny Leon’s casting helps the audience realize this could be any town anywhere, at any time, now and forever.
The performers are uniformly top drawer. The quartet of family heads truly personify heads of any town, locally or universally. Julie Halston as Mrs. Soames makes a humorous impression with her frequent exclamations of “What a lovely wedding!” during that scene.
The production elements—costumes by Dede Ayite and lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes—are beautifully coordinated by director Leon.
Long may this production shine its lights at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
