Our Town
Description
There's a proto-Lynchian, twilit ambiguity running through Thornton Wilder's brand of Rockwelliana, something sympathetic yet cool; he's come to praise and bury a certain sentimental vision of small-town America. Director David Cromer—who also deftly plays the empathetic/dispassionate narrator—teases out muted, wistful notes, bringing things closer to the gently spectral style Wilder arguably intended than what you may've been conditioned to expect from this “nostalgic” chestnut. Leads Jennifer Grace and Rob Fagin are winning without stooping to aw-shucks cuteness; but it's John Byrnes and Tim Curtis, as their golden-lit fathers, who deliver the show's signature performances.—BN
