By some chance I have a surfeit of things coming up in the next ten days - two operas, two plays, dance, and two of the special concerts for the opening of the new Alice Tully Hall. If they're all as good as the new production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" I just saw at the Barrow Street Theater, I'm in for a treat. "Our Town" is one of the great American plays - some say the greatest. It's about the mystery of life, truest in a way in the most ordinary of moments, but most people know it from cloying high school productions, or from the the rather sentimental movie. This revival (which started in Chicago) is none of those things, and restores to the play the experimental frisson of a bare stage production (in 1938!) by a playwright who'd spent time with Luigi Pirandello. Director (and Stage master) David Cromer presents a deadpan production which lets the profundity sneak up on you. And deep in the 3rd act is a theatrical miracle you won't soon forget. Check it out while it's in previews, if you can still get a ticket!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Barrow Street; New York; United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; Earth; Solar System; Universe; Mind of God
By some chance I have a surfeit of things coming up in the next ten days - two operas, two plays, dance, and two of the special concerts for the opening of the new Alice Tully Hall. If they're all as good as the new production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" I just saw at the Barrow Street Theater, I'm in for a treat. "Our Town" is one of the great American plays - some say the greatest. It's about the mystery of life, truest in a way in the most ordinary of moments, but most people know it from cloying high school productions, or from the the rather sentimental movie. This revival (which started in Chicago) is none of those things, and restores to the play the experimental frisson of a bare stage production (in 1938!) by a playwright who'd spent time with Luigi Pirandello. Director (and Stage master) David Cromer presents a deadpan production which lets the profundity sneak up on you. And deep in the 3rd act is a theatrical miracle you won't soon forget. Check it out while it's in previews, if you can still get a ticket!
