On the Red Carpet: Kenny Leon Confirms He Did Pipe a Bacon Smell Into Our Town

When Kenny Leon signed on to do Our Town, he knew Thornton Wilder wanted his play about a small town to be done in a minimalist fashion, with a bare-bones set and no props. But Wilder never said anything about smells. On the opening night red carpet for Our Town at the Barrymore Theatre, Leon confirmed that you're not going crazy if you smell bacon in the third act of the show. That was intentional—there are smells being piped into the theatre.

"When you lose the props...your other senses are heightened," explains Leon. "[I thought], 'Oh! So let me pick three scents.' I thought about the heliotrope in the first act, the vanilla ice cream in the second act when [Emily and George] fall in love, because you always remember what that smell was like. And then lastly, the bacon, when [Emily] revisits her 12th birthday. So there's three distinct, specific smells that not everyone smells."

That is one of many artistic flourishes that Leon has made to his production of Our Town (though Leon credits director David Cromer's Off-Broadway production of the play in 2010 for doing the bacon smell first). Read reviews for the production here.

For actor Zoey Deutch, who plays Emily Webb in the production, this is her Broadway debut. Though she came to fame as an actor on the Disney channel, she's loved Our Town "for as long as I can remember. So getting to make my Broadway debut with this and holding [Emily's] heart and mine every night, that's something I couldn't even quite have dreamed up or conjured up." She also adds that acting alongside 27 other experienced actors in the ensemble cast has helped her with her performance jitters. "I just watched and try to learn from them. And as much as I can get away from myself and my own bullshit, the more I can just step out of the way and let these words get to the people in the theatre, the better I feel."

The cast of Our Town may know Grover's Corners well, but how well do they know other fictional towns in theatre? Watch as Playbill quizzes them below.

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The cast of Our Town is gigantic. With 28 cast members it can be overwhelming to keep them all straight. But luckily, Leon cast the show with stars and beloved actors who can all bring sparkle to their roles, no matter how small.

Says stage legend Julie Halston, who plays the delightful Mrs. Soames, who loves weddings. "When I first got a call to play Mrs. Soames, I had sort of forgotten about Mrs. Soames, and I was like, 'Is she even in the show?'" Halston recalls. "And it was really Kenny Leon who said, 'Everyone is going to shine.' Though she was initially skeptical, she admitted that Leon was right, 'Everyone shines. You remember everyone.'"

Adds Donald Webb Jr., who plays Simon Stimson, the church choir director: "[Simon's] first line is, 'Music come into the world to give pleasure.' Who walks on the stage and says that?!" he exclaims. "The show doesn't work the same without those small characters, without those small roles."

Though Our Town is an American theatre staple, actor Richard Thomas had never actually been in a production. For Thomas, who play's Emily's father Mr. Webb, this new revival was a way to finally do Our Town. "I didn't want to be the only actor in America who's never been in a production of Our Town," he says, laughing. "It's my 15th opening night on Broadway, and it never loses its excitement...We're doing this wonderful play in this fresh and beautiful production that Kenny Leon has directed and a wonderful company of actors. It's just been a blast."

To see the cast of Our Town on the red carpet, see the photos below.