Review - Revisiting Our Town

I had the immense pleasure of taking another visit to Grover's Corners, New Hampshire last week, via the fascinating David Cromer production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town that opened in February at the Barrow Street Theatre. Back then I wrote that the director's non-traditional take on the play - which remains completely faithful to the author's text and themes - was one of the most exciting theatre events of the season. On second look, with a mixture of new and old cast member, I'd say it's the best theatre production I know of currently playing in New York.

Wilder's gently experimental 1938 classic, where issues of love, marriage, community and our purpose in the universal scheme of things are presented through the everyday life occurrences in this unremarkable town, is perhaps the most familiar of all American dramas; being studied in public schools and performed by student and community theatres for decades. And while the countless number of times this play has been produced makes it impossible to guess if Cromer's vision is a completely untried idea, I think it's safe to say you're not likely to run into another Our Town that so vividly connects contemporary audiences with material from over seventy years ago.

As per Wilder's instructions in the script, this Our Town uses the traditional setting of a bare stage with nondescript tables and chairs serving as scenery. (It may seem like scenic designer Michele Spadaro hasn't much to do, but trust me, she earns her paycheck with this one.) The actors, as usual, mime their props while going about their daily routines of housework, homework and playtime. But while Cromer's production still takes place in the early years of the 20th Century, the director utilizes simple, but clever ideas to make a modern Manhattan audience feel a part of this sleepy little rural community. Customers at the reconfigured Barrow Street Theatre are seated on three sides of the small playing space, with wide room between the first and second rows where scenes are also played out. Costume designer Alison Siple dresses the company in contemporary clothing, though avoiding anything that may be distractingly modern, blending the appearance of those on stage with those watching. Lighting designer Heather Gilbert even keeps the house lights on for the first two acts. The evening often feels more like a town hall meeting than a night at the theatre,

Replacing Cromer as the narrating character Wilder calls the Stage Manager, Jason Butler Harner, who appears to be somewhere in his mid-20s, is certainly the youngest looking actor I've seen play the role in a professional production. Like his predecessor, he foregoes the traditionally homespun interpretation, displaying an emotionally detached efficiency as he keeps the play moving along. But there are extremely effective moments -- like when he takes a long pause to observe the beauty of a butternut tree and consider its later significance -- when he hints at being truly moved by the story he tells. And the night I attended he connected with the audience with warm silence as patches of viewers responded with knowing laughs after his character says, "Most everybody in the world gets married. You know what I mean?"

The early scenes echo the Stage Manager's emotional distance as we witness the daily morning clockwork in the homes of newspaper editor Charles Webb (a grimly-mannered Ken Marks) and his neighbor, Dr. Frank Gibbs (a distant Armand Schultz). Their wives, Julia Gibbs (Lori Myers) and Myrtle Webb (Kati Brazda), are machinelike in their routines of waking up the children, preparing breakfast and tending to their husbands; both of whom seem significantly older. In a town where "women vote indirect," nearly everyone is a member of the same religion and political party and 90% of the high school graduates stay put to live out their lives, Myers and Brazda nicely communicate the frustration their characters must feel with the sameness of their lives. Myers' Mrs. Gibbs seems especially acerbic toward her husband, a man who ignores her dream to visit Paris in favor of yearly vacations to the famous battle fields of the Civil War.

That same sense of dissatisfaction is evident in young Emily Webb, played with aggressive no-nonsense authority by Jennifer Grace. Despite being the smartest student in school, her Emily no doubt sees little future for herself beyond being someone's wife, so when neighbor George (played with thick-headed shyness by James McMenamin) reveals that he's set to inherit a farm after graduating high school she gradually softens her approach to this nice, but intellectually inferior guy who can bring her financial security.

All of this may seem a bit cold by description, but Cromer's interpretation perfectly leads to Wilder's third act warning to truly value the simple everyday things in our lives. And while it's perfectly acceptable to remind readers that this act has the now deceased Emily, who died in childbirth, accepting a chance to visit one day in her past, you'll have to experience for yourself the surprising and oh, so perfect way the director utilizes at least four, if not all five, of the audience's senses to pack an extra wallop into the play's climatic scene.

With Susan Bennett's amiable Mrs. Soames, Jeremy Bailer's emotionally troublEd Simon Stimson and Ben Livingston's shyly soft-spoken Professor Willard among an outstanding ensemble, this Our Town mixes great character-driven humor, decent heart-tugging sentiment and stunning theatricality into a production that is truly -- let me say it once more -- an exciting event.

Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Jason Butler Harner; Bottom: Lori Myers, Adam Hinkle, Armand Schultz, James McMenamin, Jason Butler Harner, Jennifer Grace, Ken Marks and Kati Brazda.