Amid the last claps of his standing ovation, director Kenny Leon had some final (and colorful) words for his audience at Barrymore Theatre: “Our-Fucking-Town!” Indeed, Leon—along with his star-studded cast of Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, and Zoey Deutch—had just pulled off a feat worthy of an energized expletive. After 20 years, they successfully revived the seminal Thornton Wilder play, Our Town, on Broadway. The next morning, The New York Times published a rave review for all to read with their coffee.
When Wilder wrote Our Town in 1938, he wanted it performed without sentimentality and dry as a bone. His stage had no props and a plain set. Instead, actors pantomimed. Such instruction was prescient; the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire is open to endless interpretation in front of an audience unburdened by nostalgia. That’s ensured its longevity in American theaters for the last 86 years. “It’s simple yet profound. So, so profound,” Deutch, who plays Emily, says. “It’s full of real sentiment which is not the same as sentimental. As for being uneventful, the event of the play is huge—it’s life itself.” Adds Holmes: “Every word has so much intention.” (Parsons also jokes that Holmes, who plays Mrs. Gibbs, was the most obsessive cast member about her pantomime: “I don’t think anyone complained or worried more about her kitchen routine than Katie Holmes did,” he says, laughing. “She’s always salting whatever it is that she’s baking!” Holmes jokes back that, on opening night, she’ll make Parsons a pretend Eggs Benedict.)