Our Town

I've seen and read "Our Town" so many times that I thought to myself, "Why bother with this one?" It turned out that this is by far the best version of "Our Town" I've ever seen. Paul Newman was a magnificent stage manager. Maggie Lacey and Ben Fox were superb as Emily and George; I doubt that anyone's ever played them better. The ending was so movingly staged and acted that I was reduced to a blubbering idiot with tears rolling down my face. This is as good as it gets for "Our Town," and at last I understand why it's a classic.

As someone who loved the William Holden version, and I have also acted in a community theatre version of this (as the "Stage Manager" character)... so I think I can give a valid point of view on this film. It is one of the best stage versions that I have ever seen. A very interesting way to do it with minimalist props and scenery compared to the traditional "dark stage and spotlight version". I can not wait for it to be released on DVD, and since it is a Showtime Networks and PBS Masterpiece Theatre co-production, I know it is only a matter of time before it is released. This is one DVD that will have a prized position in my DVD collection.

I don't think I've ever seen a production of this play that did not bring tears to my eyes in the last act. It is simply a powerful work and hard even for amateur players to fail in. This production follows true to form. Paul Newman is wonderful as the Stage Manager. He plays the part with such ease and conviction that one forgets all about the blue-eyed heartthrob he once was and concentrates solely on an actor at the top of his form.

I also think Maggie Lacey is very fine as Emily. She plays the young woman as breathless, open-eyed, innocent, and just darn good. That is the way Emily is supposed to be played, of course, but Ms. Lacey does it exceptionally well. (How stupid it is to think that goodness is dull!) The actor who plays George (Ben Fox, I believe) is less appealing, and comes across at times as a near-hayseed. Fox is successful at playing George's self-doubts, but not his strength.

I have stayed away from the Hollywood version of the play, the one starring William Holden, because I have heard that the ending in the graveyard is changed, that it is treated as a dream. It's hard to believe that anyone would touch the text of Thornton Wilder's play, but a change of that magnitude would certainly take away much of the play's power.

All in all, this is a likable production.

I've seen 'Our Town' on stage several times, dating back 50-some years to my small high school. I've seen it once on the small screen with Hal Holbrook, and including (I believe) John Houseman. But this is the best I have seen, and Paul Newman deserves a majority of the credit for this. He's about my age and I have watched him turn from the handsome, virile, often rebellious leading man to an old character actor. But this time he owns the stage. In live stage, I have never seen facial expression used really effectively: I've always been too far away from the actors. I don't recall Holbrook doing much in this area: I recall a rather straight narrative style that time. Newman is extraordinary. The expressions and the timing added a quality I don't ever recall seeing. The camera closed in appropriately and effectively. And for the first time I saw the Stage Manager turn from the simple travelogue narrator he appears at the opening to an identity at the closing moments I had never recognized before.

(I'm trying to be cautious and not spoil the end. Is it possible to spoil it? Hasn't everyone who enjoys American stage already seen 'Our Town', like me, enough times they can almost speak the dialogue of that final scene along with the characters?)

The play is so familiar that the sparse set comes naturally. This production actually used an item or two that I don't recall from earlier ones, but it still seems right. I was much impressed by the lighting, pulling the action up out of the overall darkness. Some things worked less well, I thought. George and Emily aged, and this was harder to do when the camera could zoom in and show their faces. With no makeup changes, they were left with dialogue and voice to convince the viewer, as I didn't feel movements showed the aging effectively. The same applied to the two sets of parents. Nonetheless, when Emily held the stage in the last scene, she still made it one of the most moving moments in theater.

I am intrigued by the critical response to 'Our Town'. Early reviews seem to be enthusiastic, but some critics since seem to consider it too light, too trivial, to be listed among the great ones like Williams's and Miller's works. But aren't we talking here about the universal themes of life? Isn't that serious enough?

Find a copy of it if you can. It's one of Paul Newman's great moments.

Thankfully, Wilder's story of Our Town can even overcome out of kilter staging and unusual directing notes and even miscasting.

Paul Newman? Yes, he's alright but lacks nearly any sort of personality. The lines that could provide him with sympathy or any form of engagement with the audience are delivered very dryly, with little if any humanity.

The casting? Strange, I think. Both of Emily's parents are quite a bit older than one would expect from a teenager. Gosh, in the 1899 flashback, her father looks like some dodgy 70 year old, and even Jane Curtin is too old to be a teenager's mother.

The script? I fail to see why the producer, director, &/or actors felt compelled to change the script. No, there no major changes, but why change at all? It is certainly not needed, and rather presumptuous.

Similarly, the cemetery scene in Act III is staged rather counter to Wilder's instructions. The dead in that scene seems more like they are waiting for a train than waiting for eternity, and more like a coffee klatch than dead. And they move about quite vigorously in their chairs. I expected a better adherence to Wilder's instructions.

And, when she first appears in Act III, Emily is rather blase. A better staging would be for Emily to show a bit of sorrow, a bit of loss, and a bit of wonder. Instead, it seems to me that Emily is just joining the queue for the train, which will be along any minute now. Just another day.

No, this staging is not bad, but I would have expected much much better from a professional production like this. This production is just mediocre.