Video: Jim Parsons Says OUR TOWN Role Represents Playwright Thornton Wilder

Jim Parsons, star of the new Broadway revival of Our Town, visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday to discuss the highly-anticipated production. 

Parsons plays the role of the Stage Manager in the show, a character that serves as a commentator, existing largely on the outskirts of the drama. Parsons believes that the Stage Manager represents playwright Thornton Wilder, likening it to the character of Tom in The Glass Menagerie, who he says is based on Tennessee Williams.

"I think it is incumbent on me to be the most honest broker I can be between the audience and the scenes we're watching," Parsons says.

Colbert went on to point out that Our Town addresses the fleeting nature of life and asked Parsons about the role the show has played in his appreciation of being alive.

"For me, the play is most resonant in my own personal existence every morning. I genuinely wake up with a good part of me being so happy to get up and the possibility. I'm grateful that I'm alive...And then there's always the other part going 'You've got to hurry, you'll never get all of this done!' And that's the dichotomy to me...But I think that's the other message in the play that, in a weird way, is hopeful or at least very forgiving...is that you're not going to appreciate every moment [in life]." Watch the full interview with Jim Parsons now!

About Our Town

Our Town, directed by Tony Award-winner , will feature 28 actors led by Emmy, Golden Globe & Screen Actors Guild Award-winner as “Stage Manager”, as “Emily Webb”, as “Mrs. Webb”, Obie & Audelco Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Billy as “Dr. Gibbs”, Tony & Grammy Award-nominee as “George Gibbs”, Tony & Drama Desk Award-nominee and Emmy-Award-winner as “Mr. Webb”, Tony & Drama Desk-nominee as “Mrs. Gibbs”, 2021 Special Tony Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee as “Mrs. Soames”, Donald Webber, Jr. as “Simon Stimson”, as well as Sarnak, , , , , Doron JéPaul, , Anthony , , , , , , , , Ricardo Vázquez, , and .

’s Our Town will begin previews on Tuesday, September 17 ahead of an opening on Thursday, October 10 at the Barrymore Theatre for a strictly limited engagement.
 
The design team for Our Town will include scenic design by Tony Award-winner (New York, New York; Act One), costume design by Tony Award-winner and Drama Desk Award-winner (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Suzan Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog), lighting design by Tony Award-nominee (’ Topdog/Underdog; A Soldier’s Play), sound design by Tony Award-nominee (Ohio State Murders; for colored girls…), hair, wig & makeup design by J. Jared Janas (Mary Jane, Prayer for the French Republic), casting by , with (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) as the dialect coach.
 
This will be the first major Broadway revival of the classic play in nearly 25 years.  Our Town, the timeless drama of life in the village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, has become an American classic with universal appeal. ’s most frequently performed play, Our Town appeared on Broadway in 1938 to wide acclaim, and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Photo credit: Paramount