Video: Why the Broadway Revival of Our Town 'Sounds Like a New Play' | Playbill

Video Video: Why the Broadway Revival of Our Town 'Sounds Like a New Play'

Kenny Leon and the cast discusses why it's 'an Our Town for our time.'

Kenny Leon wants to change your perception of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, the theatre staple that you probably acted in or saw when you were a teenager: "People have it in mind that Our Town is old. [But] Our Town is synonymous for our world, our time," says Leon. See the Tony-winning director and his skilled cast discuss the new Broadway revival of Our Town in the video above.

This production features an all-star cast, with Jim Parsons leading the cast as the Stage Manager. The recent Tony nominee (for Mother Play) admits that as the one person who gets to speak directly to the audience every night, he doesn't feel like he's playing a character. "It doesn't feel like I have a character to guard myself behind at all," he says, admitting that it can be scary but at the same time, "It makes it very enjoyable when I'm in it and when I feel connected [to the audience]."

READ: Kenny Leon on That Time He Directed 2 Plays in 2 Cities, At the Same Time

Our Town is currently running at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, with opening night set for October 10. Performances are scheduled to continue through January 19, 2025. The 1938 play centers on ordinary life in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1931. The work has become one of the most beloved in the repertoire, and one of the most frequently produced. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the year it premiered and has been revived on Broadway in 1944, 1969, 1989, and 2003. 

For Julie Halston, that interpersonal connection is what makes Our Town's themes so enduring. "When you're in a theatre, you're part of a community, this is a play about community. Doesn't matter if you're in Boise, Greenwich Village, Grover's Corners', Dublin, Ireland—you're part of a community," she says.

Photos: Our Town Meets the Press

The cast of Our Town also includes Zoey Deutch as Emily Webb, Katie Holmes as Mrs. Webb, Billy Eugene Jones as Dr. Gibbs, Ephraim Sykes as George Gibbs, Richard Thomas as Mr. Webb, Michelle Wilson as Mrs. Gibbs, and Donald Webber Jr. as Simon Stimson.

The cast also includes Heather Ayers, Willa Bost, Bobby Daye, Safiya Kaijya Harris, Doron JéPaul, Shyla Lefner, Anthony Michael Lopez, Bryonha Marie, John McGinty, Kevyn Morrow, Hagan Oliveras, Noah Pyzik, Ephie Aardema Sarnak, Sky Smith, Bill Timoney, Ricardo Vázquez, and Greg Wood, along with understudies Matthew Elijah Webb and Nimene Sierra Wureh. Casting is by Jim Carnahan.

Joining Leon on the creative team are scenic designer Beowulf Boritt, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Allen Lee Hughes, sound designer Justin Ellington, hair, wig, and makeup designer J. Jared Janas, and dialect coach Kate Wilson. Kamara A. Jacobs is production stage manager.

Producing the revival are Jeffrey Richards, Samsational Entertainment, and Eric Falkenstein.

Visit OurTownBroadway.com.

Photos: Our Town on Broadway

 
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