Review: OUR TOWN AT TOWN PLAYERS OF NEW CANAAN

“You’ve got to love life to have life, and you’ve got to have life to love life… It’s what they call a vicious circle.” These words, spoken by the Stage Manager, capture the spirit of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.
The Town Players selected this play for this season’s 250th anniversary celebration, turning the spotlight on small-town America, and more specifically, on “Our Town” of New Canaan.
Through the lens of a small American town in the early 1900s, Wilder explores life in all its ordinary forms: growing up, falling in love, getting married, growing old, and dying. What might seem dull or uneventful is brought vividly to life through the play’s storytelling, while its darker moments remind us how quickly it can all pass.

Thornton Wilder was a prolific playwright and novelist and a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He won for his 1927 novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for his plays The Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town. First published in 1938, Our Town is set in the fictional Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, near the Massachusetts state line. The town is deliberately ordinary, which allows Wilder to focus less on dramatic events and more on the small moments that make up people’s lives.

The story centers on Emily and George, who grow up next door to each other, fall in love, and marry. Emily is intelligent and full of potential, but eventually becomes a farmwife. Their relationship is more than a love story; it also reflects the familiar path that many people in Grover’s Corners follow. But beneath the town’s quiet surface, there is plenty of darkness. Simon Stimson, the local choirmaster, drinks heavily and eventually takes his own life. Emily’s death in childbirth is another reminder that the seemingly predictable rhythm of life can be suddenly interrupted. 
The play has often been treated almost like a theatrical “Christmas card,” a warm picture of small-town America. Grover’s Corners is familiar and peaceful, yet it can also be restrictive, lonely, and monotonous. By stripping the stage down to almost nothing and focusing on the lives of its residents, the play asks us to pay attention to the ordinary moments we might otherwise overlook. The fleeting moments that come and go. The simplicity of the production is central to the play. The stage is almost completely bare, with only a few tables, ladders, and chairs, while objects such as teacups, newspapers, and milk bottles are mimed by the actors. Rather than creating the town through elaborate scenery, much of it is left to the audience’s imagination. The Stage Manager holds everything together, speaking directly to the audience, introducing characters, filling in parts of the story, and commenting on the action.

Larry Reina is superb as the Stage Manager, moving effortlessly between narrator, participant, and the small characters he plays, including the soda-pop seller and the wedding celebrant. He has a rare gift for connecting directly with the audience, drawing us into the life of the town with warmth, intelligence, and a mischievous touch. He seems completely at home in the space between telling the story and living inside it. The performance is beautifully done: precise, playful, and deeply human.

Jessie Gilbert is quietly compelling as Mrs. Gibbs, a woman devoted to her family but carrying the quiet weight of dreams she knows will never be realized. Gilbert captures both her constant worry as a mother and the frustration of a life narrowed by circumstance and by a husband whose self-importance leaves little room for her own ambitions. She is especially moving in the quieter moments, giving the character a performance that is subtle and full of feeling.

Geoffrey Gilbert as Doc Gibbs shines as the overworked, practical, and deeply compassionate town doctor who anchors his family and community.

Nick Menidis-Condon is wonderful as George Gibbs. He is completely convincing as the grumpy teenage boy so many parents will recognize. His awkward interactions with Emily in Act Two are unforgettable, from carrying her books to the wonderfully awkward moment when he finally declares his love. Tender and truthful, he is exceptional.

Savannah Hall makes Emily the heart of the production, with a performance that grows especially powerful in Act Three. Her final scenes are beautifully simple and deeply moving, allowing the emotional power of Wilder’s writing to come through. Together, she and Reina’s Stage Manager help guide us through the world of Grover’s Corners with warmth, wit, and quiet intelligence.

John Fanelli is terrific as Mr. Webb, bringing an easy energy, warmth, and charm to the role. He is instantly likable and completely believable as the unassuming dad at the heart of this family. One of the production’s most delightful moments comes when Mr. Webb offers some hard-won wisdom to his future son-in-law. The scene is wonderfully funny, but there is real tenderness underneath it, making the moment both hilarious and unexpectedly profound.

Jennifer Prescott is radiant as Mrs. Webb, bringing warmth, humor, and a quiet sense of longing to the role. As the play unfolds, we learn that she barely knew her husband before their wedding day, that she dreamed of going to Paris, and that she never got to spend her “legacy” on herself. These small details give us a glimpse of a woman with dreams and frustrations of her own, beyond her role as wife and mother. Prescott captures her beautifully.

In fact, every person onstage is perfectly cast, each bringing something special to the production. This is ensemble acting at its finest: warm, honest, generous, and wonderfully familiar. Together, the cast creates not simply a group of characters, but a genuine community.

Jonathan Hall is superb in both his roles as Simon Stimson, the alcoholic choirmaster who is the subject of endless village gossip, and Howie Newsome, the milkman. As Stimson, he is both poignant and funny. Anyone who has ever been in a choir will recognize the endless frustration of trying to teach all the different parts, and Hall captures it beautifully. That humor is contrasted with the darker moments when Stimson is lost in his own despair and cynicism. As Newsome, Hall brings a lovely warmth to the quiet, observant milkman.

Karen Heck’s performance as Mrs. Soames, the town busybody, is both funny and deeply touching. She captures the character’s gossiping, sometimes vapid nature while also revealing a lonely woman with a sad history of her own. It is a wonderful performance. Heck also makes a humorous appearance as Professor Willard, providing a touch of humor and a clear-eyed view of the town.

Jason Papadopoulos is a delight as Wally Webb, a lively, spirited boy whose squabbling with his sister feels instantly familiar.

Penelope Dulmaine is equally wonderful as Rebecca Gibbs, George’s persistent little sister, always ready to pester him and delivering her memorable line about the unusually addressed letter with perfect timing.

John Atkin brings warmth and humor to Constable Warren and a nostalgic sadness to Joe Stoddard, while Kevin Rishel makes the most of his roles as Sam Craig and Si/Joe Crowell, giving each character a distinct and memorable presence.

Director Peter Green keeps the cast moving with a light but assured hand. The choices are simple and effective. The result is a production that understands that the apparent simplicity of Our Town is deceptive. Its power comes from accumulation: small gestures, familiar routines, passing encounters, jokes, regrets, marriages, deaths. Green trusts those moments and, most importantly, trusts his extraordinary ensemble to make them matter.

Set designer Carin Zakes provides a minimalist stage for the action, with a cyclorama upstage onto which clever projections establish time, place, and other information as needed. Chairs are moved by the cast to suggest changing locations, allowing the production to move swiftly from one scene to the next. A large compass rose, designed and painted on the stage floor by Meg Rogers, adds another visual treat. The spareness of the design suits the material perfectly: nothing distracts from the people, their routines, their relationships, and the passage of time.

Costumers Alexis Hoffman and Callie Kulakis dress each character in tasteful period pieces that successfully transport the audience to small-town New England in the early 1900s.

Jac-que Robinson’s evocative lighting design keeps our eyes focused on the right things at the right time, while Peter Green’s excellent sound design fills in the physical blanks of the production. Keith Levenson’s music adds beauty and depth, with especially lovely musical interludes performed by the actors and accompanied on guitar by John Fanelli.
A special shout out to Stage Manger, Chris Gorman for keeping the production running smootly behnd the scenes.

Don’t miss this Our Town, it is tender, funny, beautifully acted, and a powerful reminder to cherish the ordinary moments that make up a life.
Our Town opens TPNC’s milestone 80th season with performances through Oct. 4.
Tickets are available at TPNC.org.
For information, email TICKETS@tpnc.org
203-594-3636.

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