Review: At the Lyric Stage Company, OUR TOWN is Our Story

Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” is now widely considered a classic of the American theater but that wasn’t guaranteed when, following an abbreviated run at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in New Jersey, it moved to Boston’s Wilbur Theatre for what was to have been a two-week pre-Broadway engagement. Due to poor ticket sales and a drubbing from local critics, the drama, with Frank Craven as the original Stage Manager, closed after five performances.

It may have been panned in Boston but Broadway gave it a much warmer welcome and a longer run, during which Wilder was awarded the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Numerous high-profile productions have since followed, top-lined by everyone from Henry Fonda and Spalding Gray to Paul Newman, who, in what was his final stage role, starred in a limited-run 2002 production. A hit 2024 revival, directed by Kenny Leon, starred Jim Parsons as the Stage Manager.

Local theatergoers will also remember director David Cromer’s acclaimed 2009 off-Broadway rendering, which was presented by The Huntington in 2012 with Cromer playing the Stage Manager for the first weeks of that run, before the part was assumed by Joel Colodner.

In a concise three acts depicting Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and Death and Eternity, Wilder introduces us – in a play-within-the play set in the fictional community of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1914 – to the Webb and Gibbs families as they work, attend school, interact in their community, participate in choir practice, play baseball, and prepare meals.

Currently at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston through October 19, under the measured direction of Courtney O’Connor, a meaningful and moving new production is breathing fresh life into the oft-produced drama.

Playing the Stage Manager, the always interesting Will McGarrahan dispatches with the pocket watch, pipe, and hat commonly associated with this character. Wearing instead casual slacks, an oxford shirt, and the ubiquitous white-soled shoes of today, McGarrahan’s Stage Manager strides rather than ambles as he leads the audience through the simple details, warm moments, and deep sadness of the play’s characters. He also joins with them to share their highs and lows.

This is still small-town America at the turn of the last century, of course, but its sentimentality is only part of a story that is also charming, touching, sometimes sad, and as important today as when it was written. O’Connor eschews the soft-filter feel of other mountings in favor of a gentle but sharp focused production that blends nostalgia with stylings that ensure the universality of “Our Town” will resonate with today’s audiences.

In keeping with Wilder’s original stage directions, Lyric Stage’s deliberately spare set by Shelley Barish is anchored by the rings of an old tree that mark the passage of time and consisting primarily of sturdy plankboard benches, making the point that this is a deep-rooted story. There are minimal props and the actors pantomime the daily routine of life, with especially expert miming by Thomika Marie Bridwell as the understated Mrs. Gibbs and Amanda Collins as the tightly wound Mrs. Webb.

In addition to Bridwell and Collins, the terrific cast includes De’Lon Grant as the stalwart Mr. Webb, Robert Najarian as Doc Gibbs, and John Kuntz as Professor Willard and, more impactfully, as Simon Stimson, the chronically drunk choirmaster. Kuntz doesn’t have much dialogue but he hauntingly conveys his character’s struggle. Also contributing small but memorable moments to the proceedings is Kathy St. George in a host of roles ranging from Rebecca, an impishly charming young person, to Mrs. Louella Soames, a town gossip.

Josephine Moshiri Elwood and Dan Garcia are perfectly paired as Emily Webb and George Gibbs, respectively, high-school classmates and neighbors whose relationship evolves through various life stages from shy friendship to young love and marriage.

What makes all worthwhile productions of “Our Town,” like this one, work is what makes the play itself endure. We can relate to Wilder’s characters and connect with their experiences, making the play truly our story in “Our Town.”