OUR TOWN: First Preview - Page 2

[Actor 7]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 11:53pm

Thank you to RentBoy86 for a great review of OUR TOWN. Is this production likely to be running through June or is it a limited run? Sounds like the director really loved this play because your impressions are the kind of emotions that almost always mean the director really "got Thornton Wilder." Many directors try to make this play something that it isn't. This production sounds truly great.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/21/09 at 11:55pm

It's a limited run, but who knows, it could extend?

And yeah, I think he def. understood it, and I think he also understood a modern audience. Unlike Des Mc-whatever (director of Guys and Dolls on Broadway) who doesn't quite understand us kids. He thinks he does, but we don't need flashy projections and whatnot.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 8:21am

The 3rd act is theatrical bliss.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 10:22am

You should all really check out the 1940 film. It has several performers from the original 1938 Broadway cast, including Frank Craven as the Stage Manager, Doro Merande as Mrs. Soames, and best of all Martha Scott, making her film debut. She received an Oscar nomination for it, too.

In addition, the film has a quartet of my all-time favorite movie character actors at the parents: Thomas Mitchell and Fay Bainter as Mr. & Mrs. Gibbs, and Guy Kibbee and Beulah Bondi as Mr. & Mrs. Webb.

Aaron Copland wrote the score for the film, too! And it was up for Best Picture.

So rent it! Even if the restoration isn't that great. It could sure use a better film transfer. And even though William Holden "looks" too old to be playing George, he was only 22 years old at the time.

The only thing that bugs me is the concept that the last sequence is Emily's dream. Apparently, they did try to do it as written, and the movie sank like a depressing stone. So they wrote the few added lines for the tag to "frame" it as a dream, and to help soften it with audiences. And yes, they did it with Thornton Wilder's blessing.

But it's a wonderful movie, mostly for the solid performances, and for Copland's brilliant score.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 2:17pm

Oh, that score is absolutely haunting! When I first started teaching we showed FILMS, not DVD's to our classes. As we had to rent the films from a large company, the English Dep't ordered their films and shared them with others. That meant several of us were teaching/viewing OUR TOWN at the same time. When the film came in, you could hear that beautiful music wafting through the halls for a week or so.

I rather like the Paul Newman version. It's simple and direct--just what the play is supposed to be.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:33am

I suppose so Dollypop, but it just didn't seem like much imagination went into it. I feel like Wilder was a genius in giving us such a timeless piece. Sure it's got "period" style dialogue, but a director can do so many things with it.

I really do think the third act is problematic in that all of the graveyard inhabiters speak in such a boring, lifeless tone. I know they're dead, but it just gives this really one note tone to the entire third act, but I guess that's intentional.

I'd really like to see a revival of "Skin of our Teeth."

[kyle.]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:34am

This production is amazing! Everyone please go check it out and spread the word!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:47am

Is there really talk of moving it to Broadway? I just don't think it would work. I've never been inside the Circle in the Square, so I don't know exactly how it is set up, but I just think this show works perfectly in its current space. Especially considering the Barrow Street Theater's look - like the outside. It just has that old vintage City Hall feel to it that works so well for the show.

[Brick]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:38am

I'm in rehearsals and am not going to make it down to see it. I'd love to know the Act II spoiler as well. PM me please?

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:56am

So I saw this on Saturday and while it was definitely the best production of the play that I've seen, did anybody else feel like act 3 was rushed? The "reveal" and the overall idea was great, but then it went so fast that I couldn't tell why Emily Webb was pained. It's a difficult notion to deal with--why Emily can't handle going back--and it all rushed so fast that I felt like I missed it in this production.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 8:10am

It's not meant to be on Broadway.

[kyle.]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:23pm

Act 3 was directed with a rapid pace in mind to contrast the mundane, daily life depicted in the first two acts, and showcase how fast our lives, and time, actually go.

I think the show would work well in Circle in the Square.

I'm sure people who saw the Chicago production (produced in the basement of a theatre) would say they couldn't imagine it playing in any other space but that one, just as people seeing it at the Barrow Street feel that that space is perfect for it.

Do I think it will go to Broadway? Who knows. Do I think it deserves to play on Broadway? No doubt in my mind.

[April Saul]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:41pm

Can somebody PM me or post the code? I'd like to see this, but I can't find what you're talking about on Broadwaybox; thanks!

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:58pm

Act 3 was directed with a rapid pace in mind to contrast the mundane, daily life depicted in the first two acts, and showcase how fast our lives, and time, actually go.

I got that this was the point, but by the time Emily wanted to leave, I felt like I couldn't see what pained her so. (And I know the play, it's not so much as if I don't understand it, it just felt so rushed for some reason).

I'd also like to see this go into Circle in the Square, or at least attempt to, but I think they'd need to rip a few more of the seats out in between. Wouldn't be the first time in that space; they did some interesting configurations for Rocky Horror.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:20pm

I don't think Our Town will transfer to Broadway.

David Cromer is however directing the Broadway Revivals of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound next season.


David Cromer is Broadway Bound

[dchesnutny]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:33pm

Broadway Local - I was there on Saturday night. The guy sitting in the second aisle, near Cromer, was Mandy Patinkin, if that is who you are asking about.

As for this show/production.... i loved it. LOVED it. It was an evening of great theatre, great performances (overall... there was some uneven-ness), and I'm so glad i went.

I was moved to tears in the final scene, and was a bit embarrassed given that the house lights were up, and the cast is only two or three feet away from the audience for their curtain call, and i had tears on my face.

I urge anyone who's interested in this to go get a ticket.

[Sauja]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 6:48pm

dchestnut, I had the same reaction. When the full lights came back for bows, it felt incredibly strange to be sitting directly in front of the cast in tears. For me, it just reinforced how intimate the whole experience was.

And here are those discount codes: Visit SmartTix.com and enter code OTPB25 for $25 tickets for performances Feb 17 - March 8 or code OTPB45 for $45 tickets for performances March 9 - 29.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 11:42pm

Don't be embarrassed! Everyone around me was crying! Also, this old man wandered in seconds before ACTIII started and couldn't get to his seat. He was talking so loudly and was trying to climb over a row and this is man well into his upper 70s. He was hilarious. He just didn't know where in the world he was.

[Actor 7]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 12:18am

I just heard from three friends who rarely go to the theatre anymore because they just can't pay those ticket prices. However, they did go to this production of Our Town and they said it beats all previous productions they have ever seen! They too, said it worked very well in this particular theatre and that it should not be in a Broadway playhouse at all. They went on and on about different aspects of this production and I must say, if I were in NYC I know I would high tail it down there and see this. I would love to know what this Barrow Theatre space looks like. Does it seat about 99? Anyway, how EXCITING that a cast and director can make Wilder's play really shine! Yes, I too, would like to see a new production of SKIN OF OUR TEETH.

[goodmanK]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 3:15pm

I'd really like to know the spoiler in act 111. I am the guy who reads the last chapter of every book I read - please pm me!