Sunday, November 12, 2017

"Our Town" @ Olney Theatre Center

Well I've managed to go and see another final performance of a wonderful play.  Seems like all I can do lately is tell about what you've missed!  Went to see Thornton Wilder's American classic "Our Town" at Olney Theatre today.  It tells the story of the inhabitants of a mundane little town in New England, but in doing so it has set Grover's Corner, New Hampshire into the permanent atlas of American literary places.  Set in three acts that transpire in single days across fourteen years and centered on the lives of two families, the Gibbs and the Websters, it masterfully transforms their mundane lives into profound studies of the human condition both living and dead.  And that's why it holds its own so well all these years later.

Now for the twist, outside of the seven principle cast members, beautifully crafted puppets perform the remainder of the characters.  A fact that didn't stop me from thinking how refreshing it was to see an adult production of this classic play as I have only ever seen it performed in high schools and universities.  The staging filled the center of the theater space with the audience distributed on either side.  At each end was the facade of a home (the Gibbs' and the Webb's) and the over all effect was at times bedlike and coffin like. 

The acting was wonderful without a weak link in the chain.  I have been to final performances that whimpered out, but not this one.  The air was charged with a love for the work and a joy to be performing it.  Jon Hudson Odom set the standard as the Narrator and his fellow cast members seemed only too happy to rise to the challenge.  Most notable among the others were Megan Anderson as Mrs. Gibbs and Cindy de la Cruz as Emily Webb.  While I suppose that the mark of a good director is to be unnoticed, I can't help but credit Aaron Posner with providing his actors the freedom to explore the silences between the lines and use those moments to enhance the dialogue and extend the power of its meaning.  It was such an unobtrusive, but power part of this production--it gave the play a radical freshness to me.
Jon Hudson Odom as the Narrator
Megan Anderson as Mrs Gibbs and Andrea Harris Smith as Mrs. Webb
Todd Scofield as Mr. Webb confronting the puppet of Simon Stimson under the control of Jon Hudson Odom.
Cindy de la Cruz as Emily Webb, Jon Hudson Odom as the owner of the Soda Shop, and William Vaughan as George Gibbs.




If I have one regret, it is that I cannot recommend it to you, I would if I could.

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