I love glitzy Broadway shows with great music, dazzling costumes and lavish stage design, but there’s something to be said about a show with minimalistic sets that relies on pantomime.
Our Town is such a show, with minimal sets, requiring the audience to use their imagination and – more importantly – focus on what the actors are saying.
I recently saw a production of it on Broadway which gave this timeless, classic show a new twist.
The 1938 Thornton Wilder Pulitzer prize-winning play features a cast of 28, which includes Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes, who both gave a stunning performance. It is directed by Kenny Leon, who won a Tony for “A Raisin in the Sun.”
In this modernized production, which emphasizes diversity, Leon chose to include actors of multiple races, as well as a deaf actor.
One of the unique aspects of the show was that two scents emanated from the stage: the scent of heliotrope early in the show and, later, bacon, during the breakfast scene.
I loved that the play is allegorical and has a universal message that is simple, and yet so powerful: the importance of being present in the moment. In a fast-paced world where our attention is constantly diverted from one thing to another, I found it refreshing.
That, along with a gorgeous, superbly-performed production, makes the show a must-see.
The show is 1 hour and 40 minutes long, with no intermission. It is currently playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theater at 243 47th Street and closes on January 19, 2025.
Click here to learn more and to purchase tickets. Go see Our Town on Broadway – A Classic Play With a Twist!
I was not compensated for this post. I received tickets.
Senior Reviewer Maytal Wichman is a PR consultant and freelance writer and has written for several blogs. She has been living in the New York City area for over twenty years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature as well as a Law Degree. Maytal is a mom to three kids, ages 17, 15 and 12.
Starring Jim Parsons, OUR TOWN returns to Broadway for the first time in
over 20 years. Hailed by Edward Albee as “the greatest American play ever
written,” Thornton Wilder‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic will shine in a
momentous new production. Directed by Kenny Leon, this is an OUR
TOWN for our time.
In Wilder’s timeless tale of a small town, a stage manager narrates the daily
lives of its locals, depicts a childhood friendship turn into marriage, and sets
the stage for magnificent truths of what it means to be alive.
OUR TOWN features a cast of 28 actors, including Parsons, Katie Holmes,
Zoey Deutch, Ephraim Sykes, Billy Eugene Jones, Richard Thomas,
Michelle Wilson, Julie Halston and Donald Webber, Jr.
The show is one hour and 40 minutes long and plays at Broadway’s
Barrymore Theatre on 47th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue.
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