Cleveland Play House’s ‘Our Town’ delivers great theater with a message

Photo By Roger Mastroianni

It was quite a few years ago when I saw Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” for the first time. I was totally underwhelmed. It was a sub-standard attempt with the show seemingly dragged on forever (well past the usual two hours and seventeen minutes with two intermissions). The fault was not so much with the play but the production. Over the years I have grown older and hopefully wiser and having reviewed 12 years of literally hundreds of theater productions in Northeast Ohio I find that my taste in shows has matured.

When learning that Cleveland Play House was mounting a production of “Our Town” I had misgivings. I did not want to squander three plus hours of my life as I had so many years ago. I need not have worried. Cleveland Playhouse’s production is superb. The acting is flawless and the pacing is steady. This is do in large part to the excellent directing by Mary Zimmerman as well as a cast that instinctively knows how to present this complex work and who become rather than act out the characters.

As the Stage Manager (Christopher Donahue) carefully explains at the onset, the show is divided into three acts. The first act is a typical day in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire in 1901. It is a typical average representation of the town and its people who is five years from the appearance of the first automobile.

Our job as the audience is to form the burg in our minds based on the walking tour that the Stage Manager gives. With a little imagination you can “see” Main Street, the various churches, the train depot, the schools, the modest house where Doc Gibb (Steve Marvel) lives with his family that is next to the residence of Mr. Webb (Geoffrey Short) who is editor of the town’s newspaper “The Grover’s Corners Sentinel”. Across the way and behind the audience is the combination Town Hall/Post Office.

It is early morning as Doc Gibb is returning home having delivered the Goruslawski twins in “Polish Town” on the other side of the railroad tracks. Howie Newsome (Adam Ortega) is delivering his milk with his old but faithful horse, Bessie. Joe Crowell is up and enthusiastically delivering the paper as he greets his customers. It is pointed out that the young man excelled in school graduating at the top of his class and earning a full scholarship to MIT where he again graduated at the top of his class. His life was cut short on the fields of France during World War I. As the Stage Manager laments “Such a waste!” This morning the Webb and Gibbs households are a tornado of activity as the children are readied for school on this beautiful spring morning.

The Stage Manager introduces Professor Willard to talk about the history of the town who veers off into a discussion about the rock formations and fossils found in the area. Editor Webb is then tapped to expound on the socioeconomic status, political and religious demographics (predominately lower-middle class, 86% Republican and 85% Protestant). Most of the children return after college to live in the town. Alcohol is not considered a problem.

We then learn of Simon Stimson, organist and choir director at the Congregational Church. As Louella Soames (Meredith Nelson), Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb gossip after choir practice we learn that Stimson is an alcoholic, which is no secret in the town but is simply accepted as fact due to his “having seen a peck of trouble”.

As the day wanes and a glowing full moon appears over the mountain, George Gibbs and Emily Webb find that they actually like each other and are both straining to grow up in their own way. The audience is dismissed with the Stage Manager saying, “That’s the end of Act I, folks. You can go and smoke, now. Those that smoke.”

The glue that holds the entire show together is of course Christopher Donahue as Stage Manager/Constable Warren and Joe Stoddard the undertaker. His warmth shines through the fourth wall as he gently teaches the audience. His job is to fill in the spaces with information about the various characters that we would otherwise miss. Steve Marvel as Doc Gibb plays the overworked physician to a “T”. His relationship with his wife is flawless. He is the consummate husband, father and town physician.

Louise Lamson as Mrs. Gibbs has a variety of personalities throughout the show. She is wife, mother, neighbor, gossip and choir member who dreams of taking her husband away to Paris for a much needed break. In each sub role a different personality emerges. Madalyn Baker plays the precocious yet self conscience teen, Emily Webb, whose life is central to the show. She is matched with Byron Johnson as George Gibbs. The pair try desperately to find themselves but instead find each other. The paring of Geoffrey Short as Mr. Webb and Derdriu Ring as Mrs. Webb is brilliant. They become rather than act the characters. Derdriu matches Louise in the various personalities giving each one its own distinctive flavor. The rest of the cast all add their special touches to the roles as the show is a blending of types who interact with each other on an equal social level.

Scenic designer Daniel Ostling’s stark bare stage with its occasional table or two, groups of chairs, steps and ladders allow our imaginations to fill in the scenery. At the beginning of each act T.J. Gerckens’ lights descend with a great deal of drama adding to the light tension. Mara Blumenfeld’s costuming is period perfect and functional. In spite of the vast open stage, Michael Keck’s sound design made sure that all dialogue was crisp and clear.

Once described as “the greatest American play ever written” this production lives up to the promise. While touching on the subjects of life, death and the beyond it encourages us to wake up now to seize the day by not letting a single scrap of time pass without noting something wonderful has happened. Carpe Diem and see this play.

The Cleveland Play House production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” will be on stage in the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio through September 28, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets go to http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Or call (216) 400-7096.