After 20 years, they successfully revived the seminal Thornton Wilder play,Our Town,on Broadway.
The next morning,The New York Timespublished a ravereview for all to read with their coffee.
Kenny Leon and Ephraim Sykes (in Thom Browne) before opening night.
Zoey Deutch, who plays Emily inOur Town, poses in the Barrymore Theatre. She wears a Chanel dress.
When Wilder wroteOur Townin 1938, he wanted it performed without sentimentality and dry as a bone.
His stage had no props and a plain set.
Instead, actors pantomimed.
Kenny Leon and Ephraim Sykes (in Thom Browne) before opening night.
Thats ensured its longevity in American theaters for the last 86 years.
Its simple yet profound.So, so profound, Deutch, who plays Emily, says.
Its full of real sentiment which is not the same as sentimental.
Photo: Jenny Anderson
As for being uneventful, the event of the play is hugeits life itself.
Adds Holmes: Every word has so much intention.
She’s always salting whatever it is that she’s baking!
Jim Parsons, who plays the Stage Manager inOur Town, backstage at The Barrymore Theatre wearing Todd Synder.
Holmes jokes back that, on opening night, shell make Parsons a pretend Eggs Benedict.)
In Leons version, the temporal setting is abstract as well.
While Stage Manager Parsons sticks true to the Wilder setting of 1901, many characters wear anachronistic costumes.
Richard Thomas, Katie Holmes, and the ensemble ofOur Towntake a bow.
And then theres the make-up of Grovers Corners itself: The townspeople are a mix of faiths and races.
That may not feel like New Hampshire at the turn of the century.
But it sure feels like America today.
Zoey Deutch and Ephraim Sykes.
Grover’s Corners belongs to all of us, Deutch says.
And in its specificity, it becomes all towns.
Jim Parsons, who plays the Stage Manager inOur Town, backstage at The Barrymore Theatre wearing Todd Synder.
Safiya Kaijya Harris.
In the audience were a number of notable names.
(“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?
every, every minute?”
Michelle Wilson.
Emily asks the Stage Manager.
The saints and poets, maybe they do some, he replied.)
Richard Thomas, Katie Holmes, and the ensemble ofOur Towntake a bow.
Julie Halston.
Many headed to Trattoria Dellarte post-curtain for the after party.
Parsons, swarmed with well-wishers, could barely make his way through the crowd.
Holmes, in a silk blue dress, thanked various members of the cast and the crew.
Zoey Deutch basktage.
Then came Deutch in aglittering Chanel Spring 2023 dresslined with pink feathers and a matching bag.
She uttered one of her characters most famous linesMama, I’m here.
I’m grown up!while hugging her own.
Donald Webber, Jr..
Zoey Deutch and Ephraim Sykes.
Donald Webber, Jr..
Richard Thomas.
Richard Thomas.
