‘OUR TOWN’: Ephraim Sykes & Zoey Deutch. Photo: Daniel Rader.

OUR TOWN
By Thornton Wilder
Through January 19, 2025
Directed by Kenny Leon
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
242 West 47th Street
www.ourtownbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

The latest revival of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town bears little resemblance to the classic drama often produced in high schools. Director Kenny Leon has reinvented the renowned story set in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire into a modern-day look at small-town life that reflects 21^st century America instead of the early 1900s (the original period for the play).

The show opens with characters onstage singing a hymn that combines Jewish prayers in Hebrew, Muslim prayers in Arabic as well as Christian references. The Stage Manager (Jim Parsons) who narrates the story is still an integral part of the show, but Mr. Leon has added many of the touches that European directors insert into American stage classics to give a “new” twist, such as audience members seated on the stage. Characters in the show enter via running down the aisles through the audience and hop on stage. Although these directorial choices are often effective, they may not please purists of the show.

Our Town has always been produced with minimal sets and props, and in this version the biggest part of the set is a group of lanterns hanging above the stage. Minimalism has always been front and center in the play, and director Kenny Leon has trimmed down everything from the sets to the show’s running length. Our Town is a three-act play, but here it has been condensed into a brief one act that runs about 100 minutes. Since there is no intermission, one of the Stage Manager’s classic lines at the end of Act I—“That’s the end of Act I, folks. You can go and smoke, now. Those that smoke”—has, of course, been cut.

Act I focuses on the daily life of people in Grover’s Corners. The Stage Manager talks about the mundane happenings in the town, from births, marriages, deaths, the paper boy’s route, what people eat for breakfast, folks gossiping, and so on. Our Town centers on two families: First, Mr. Webb (Richard Thomas), the local newspaper editor, and Mrs. Webb (Katie Holmes). They have a young son, Wally (Hagan Oliveras) and daughter, Emily (Zoey Deutch). The second family in focus are the Gibbs, including Dr. Gibbs (Billy Eugene Jones) and Mrs. Gibbs (Michelle Williams). The Gibbs also have a son, George (Ephraim Sykes) and daughter, Rebecca (Safiya Kaijya Harris). Emily and George soon develop a budding romance.

Other townsfolk include the gossipy Mrs. Soames (Julie Halston) and choir director Simon Stimson (Donald Webber, Jr.), a man who is also the notorious local alcoholic. In addition, the dairyman Howie Newsome (John McGinty) is deaf, and characters use sign language to communicate with him.

In Act II, it is three years later, and Emily and George are planning to get married. George decides against leaving town to attend college and decides to stay in Grovers Corners to marry Emily. Despite some hesitation, the two eventually wed.

Act III is set nine years later and takes place in a cemetery outside town. Without giving too much away, many townsfolk have died. One died of pneumonia, one of a burst appendix, and another died by suicide. We meet the local undertaker Joe Stoddard (Anthony Michael Lopez) and Sam Craig (Doron Jepaul), a man who has returned to Grover’s Corners for a cousin’s funeral. We soon realize the deceased cousin is one of the play’s main characters. The Stage Manager talks in detail about death and the probability of an afterlife, but without any religious interpretation.

Overall, director Kenny Leon has added many nice touches, such as the smell of bacon wafting out into the audience when Mrs. Webb is cooking breakfast.  Mr. Leon gets primarily effective performances from the cast.  Mr. Parsons is outstanding as the Stage Manager. Mr. Thomas and Ms. Holmes portray a great married couple as Mr. and Mrs. Webb, and the same holds true for Mr. Jones and Ms. Williams as the Gibbs. Ms. Halston is often hilarious as the town busybody Mrs. Soames. Mr. Sykes is believable and often touching in his role as George Gibbs. Ms. Deutch as Emily is consistently good, but her final “good-bye” speech—one of the play’s most iconic moments—comes off somewhat strained. This is hardly the best Our Town revival, but fortunately the modern touches and tweaks do not diminish the timeless story of community and life’s ups and downs in small-town America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 18, 2024
Reviewed at October 15, 2024 press performance

‘OUR TOWN’: (left to right) Anthony Michael Lopez, Safiya Kaijya Harris, Shyla Lefner, Billy Eugene Jones, Michelle Wilson, Jim Parsons & Katie Holmes. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Billy Eugene Jones & Michelle Wilson. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Ephraim Sykes, Katie Holmes & Richard Thomas. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: The cast. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: (left to right) Ephie Aardema Sarnak, Julie Halston, Richard Thomas & Hagan Oliveras. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Zoey Deutch. Photo: Daniel Rader.

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‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

TOOTSIE
Book by Robert Horn
Music & lyrics by David Yazbek
Directed by Scott Ellis
Choreographed by Denis Jones
Marquis Theatre
1535 Broadway at 45th Street
(877-250-2929), www.TootsieMusical.com

By David NouNou

Based on the brilliant 1982 movie starring Dustin Hoffman, I have to say Tootsie is one of the better adaptations of movies in recent memory. Credit must be given to Robert Horn for an intelligent, bright and imaginative book. It is fresh and to its credit veers slightly from the movie to enable it to have a different slant.

Michael Dorsey (Santino Fontana) can’t land an acting job because of his exacting and infuriating difficulty of doing a part without having to question the parts motivation. He gets fired from every audition. His former girlfriend, Sandy (Sarah Stiles) comes over one night with a script entitled Juliet’s Nurse. Michael is supposed to help her get a better understanding of the part. It is a musical based on Romeo and Juliet; this takes place after Romeo dies but, in this version, Juliet is still alive and the nurse helps her recover. Michael decides to audition for the part of the nurse, and enters as Dorothy Michaels. Of course the show is awful, but Dorothy not only lands the part of the nurse but, with sheer determination, steers the show to a resounding success.

Michael is so desperate to land an acting job that he never considers any of the complications that will arise. For one thing, he falls in love with Julie Nichols, the young lady who plays Juliet (Lilli Cooper). Further complications arise when Romeo’s brother, Chris (John Behlmann) falls madly in love with the nurse/Dorothy Michaels. Dorothy turns a flop to a huge success and has to sign a two-year contract and has to continue being a woman. Michael gets the part and the stardom that he always wanted, but he also comes to a breaking point with all the conflicts he created.

What Mr. Horn has cleverly done is taken the TV setting out, in which Michael auditions for a part in a soap opera; now Michael auditions for a Broadway show which makes it more relatable to the audience who are seeing a Broadway musical. The rest stays true to form, more or less. The book is abetted by a bouncy score from David Yazbek. Last year, Mr. Yazbek won a Tony for the score of The Band’s Visit. While that show’s score was rich and haunting, this is upbeat standard Broadway fare.

The cast, although not dynamic, is effective. Santino Fontana as Michael/Dorothy doesn’t have the luxury to develop these two characters the way Dustin Hoffman did in the movie. In the theater it becomes more of a quick-change artist rather than morphing from one character to the other. Since the audience is already in on the joke, his transitioning becomes easier and less demanding.

Lilli Cooper is charming as Julie Nichols but lacks the vulnerability of the character that draws her to Dorothy/Michael. She is too independent to be taken in. Sarah Stiles, as the neurotic Sandy in desperate need of a part and validation, comes across a tad too shrill in the beginning but is quite effective in the end. John Behlmann as Dorothy’s ardent suitor is perfect as the narcissistic brain-dead actor. Julie Halston as the show’s producer is a delight.

Credit has to be given to director Scott Ellis, as this is his second show this season, the first being the brilliant revival of Kiss Me, Kate currently at Studio 54. The man has taste and knows how to keep things moving at a quick pace. He has taken a familiar story and presented it in new terms as a musical that is worth visiting and enjoying.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 26, 2019
Reviewed at April 25, 2019 press performance.

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana & Lilli Cooper. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana & Lilli Cooper. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana (right) & company. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: (left to right) Julie Halston, James Moye, Santino Fontana, Lilli Cooper & John Behlmann. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: (left to right) Leslie Donna Flesner, Shina Ann Morris, Santino Fontana & Julie Halston. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana & Andy Grotelueschen. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Lilli Cooper & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Reg Rogers (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Lilli Cooper. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Sarah Stiles & Andy Groteluesche. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TOOTSIE’: Santino Fontana (center) with (left to right) Drew King, Leslie Donna Flesner, Sissy Bell & John Arthur Greene. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

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