Our Town

I was lucky enough to see this in its first broadcast, and have never forgotten it, especially Act III. I agree in retrospect with the criticism of Hal Holbrook being too "folksy", only because I am currently involved in a stage production in which the Stage Manager's narration is more detached -- not cold, but not as personally involved.

There are many plays that will move me to tears, or to anger, but the emotional response is usually FOR the characters portrayed. That is, it is a detached response, with little or no sense of personal participation in the milieu that is creating the response. In "Our Town", the paucity of set decoration and the inclusion of us, the audience, in the action through our being addressed directly by the Stage Manager, makes this a personal experience.

In the presentation of which I'm a part just now, I'm merely an extra -- one of the dead in Act III without lines, Farmer McCarthy. I found there is just one difficult aspect of that role: Enforcing on myself the rule that dead people don't cry. Takes discipline.

This version plays more like a greeting card than a vital alive play to me, I much prefer the Spalding Grey/Eric Stoltz/Penelope Miller 1989 version. Hal Holbrook is so folksy he comes off like one of those talking racoons from a Disney movie. John Houseman is great, as is Ford Rainey, but overall there is a self -importance about this production that distances it from you, and doesn't let you feel anything because they're too busy showing you it's a 'classic'. Better than the 1940 version, but stick with the 1989 version.

My Dad showed this version to me when I was little. It always amazes me how talented the cast had to be to have no props and very little set. I saw Paul Newman as the Narrator on Broadway, but this version is my favorite.

Having two of our favorite TV moms--Sada Thompson of Family and Barbara Bel Geddes of Dallas--in the roles of Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb was inspired casting. Charlotte Rae is adorable as the scatterbrained Mrs. Soames, and Robby Benson as George is appropriately naive and cute. The third act, where Emily returns briefly to life after dying in childbirth, must be difficult to perform convincingly, but Glynnis O'Connor beautifully conveys the many levels of emotion and meaning in this segment of the play.

This was intended as the "definitive" version of Our Town, and it could have been that. But the stylized stage sets are really hokey, and Hal Holbrook may be just a bit too "folksy" in his interpretation of the Stage Manager role (compared to Spalding Gray's more subdued performance in the 1989 version).

I love this play--and I like this version of it despite its flaws.

This is a really fine version of "Our Town." It is much better than the 1940 version which both changed the plot and set the play in a real set. Perhaps what is most charming about this version was the set which had outlines of the houses in which the actions took place.

I especially liked Hal Holbrook as the stage manager and the late John Houseman as the professor.

Our town is a fine piece of literature and this is probably the best version made for screen.