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Video: The Cast of OUR TOWN Gets Ready for Broadway
Sep 13, 2024
Small town USA is coming to big city NYC this fall. Tony winning director Kenny Leon has assembled a cast of 28 for the fifth Broadway revival of Our Town, which opens on October 10 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. In this video, watch as the cast takes a break from rehearsals to chat about this exciting new revival!
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Fort and Wilders Pulitzer Prize winning classic Our Town is returning to Broadway with a 28-member cast led by four-time Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, and Richard Thomas
0:13
Under the direction of Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, it begins performances on September 17th at the Barrymore Theater, and we caught up with a company here at the Oak Room in the legendary Algonquin Hotel
0:26
You know, it's been about seven years in the waiting. in the making of this production of our town
0:33
So I grew up not really understanding the play or not really seeing it's true value
0:39
because of certain productions that, you know, set it in a certain way
0:44
Now I see the play as the most important play ever written. You know, it's about our time on the planet
0:50
and being kind to each other. It's about our politics, our love, our education, our families
0:58
So it's everything. into a similar cast of 28, 28 wonderful human beings
1:05
I'm just a real lucky director who gets to do this production
1:09
at this time in my life, and I couldn't be more excited
1:13
Oh, I'm thrilled. You know, I'll be honest with you. I realized when I read the play, when I got the offer
1:21
that I'd never read it before, and I've never seen it before. and it has the most fruits of any play I've ever worked on
1:35
I mean I was saying to somebody rehearsal the other day I was like you could work on this for 10 years and just never present it or do whatever But like what an experience is getting to go through these scenes and say these words and present these ideas
1:51
and the way that they morph and change depending on the day or depending on who says it
1:56
It's amazing. It's been wonderful. I mean, it's been hard work. We all want to work hard
2:05
So it's, you know, it's great. to watch everyone's process. I mean, the talent in the room is phenomenal
2:14
To see everyone discovering things. I mean, this is a play that is like poetry
2:22
And so it sort of forces you to kind of let go of what you think
2:30
give into the play, and let it reveal itself to you. So it's kind of a little different process in that way
2:37
And then, you know, we've been working a lot on the tone, which is kind of always, right, what you have to do
2:45
And finding the tone together and everyone doing their part to stay in that
2:54
And it's like so exciting and great. Kenny wanted in our town that really looks and sounds and feels like America does right now
3:03
So that we're not watching a museum piece. we're watching a play which will speak right to the heart of everybody in the audience
3:12
I mean, it is about everything we all go through. And I think, I won't say most important because everyone will have to make up their own mind
3:19
seeing the play. But it feels to me that right now in the world we living in a play that is about interdependence and about community and about the idea that our commonality as humans going through the same life changes
3:33
and as community is greater than our differences, that we need to be reminded of that, you know
3:38
that we're all members of our town. You're about to come to Broadway in our town
3:43
How excited are you? Beyond. Beyond, beyond. This is the dream of my life
3:48
This place specifically has been... I, the play has sat on my night table since I was 14 years old
3:54
I have returned more to it than any other piece of text. I love it so much. I have felt such a deep, like, there's no other way to describe it
4:01
but just need within me to play, Emily. So getting to do it on Broadway, with this group of people
4:09
with this director, kind of exceeds any hope and expectation I could have ever had
4:13
So I'm really excited. Really, really excited. Oh, I am very, very excited
4:19
You know, it's always good to work. And last year I did another American classic, and this year I'm doing an American classic
4:26
and it's always good to do things that you love and treasure. I did Our Town when I was at the Yale School of Drama, and I played Simon Stimson
4:33
And I remember how moved people were, and I can't wait to have that feeling again
4:37
What made you say, yes, I have to do this? I didn't even think about it
4:42
My agents called, and they were like, hey, you want to do this
4:46
And I was like, no, no. Who's Kenny Leon? Who wrote Our Town? No, I got very teary because first of all, I could see a grammar school production of Our Town and I'll end up weeping, but
5:03
Kenny Leon this incredible cast back on Broadway at the Baramore It all very very special
5:13
And I cannot wait till we get in front of an audience and see the reaction
5:20
And Kenny has, he's a visionary. He's a director. He's a visionary
5:27
He's a preacher. He's an intellectual. He's a man of feeling. he's all of it
5:34
and that's all part of this play. Yeah, well Kenny is, I mean, he's incredible
5:39
and he's got this capability to bring things out of you that you didn't even know you had
5:44
So it's been wonderful watching Jim and Katie and you know, I've been longtime friends with Ephraim
5:50
for so long and you know, this is our first time getting a chance to work together since he got
5:53
his Tony nomination, you know what I mean? But it's wonderful to like all 28
5:57
of us to really buy into what it is that we want to do and and show and and and say
6:04
Yeah, man, he's such a brilliant mind, a brilliant leader. And I come from the same town as he does
6:10
So we're St. Pete boys in the room. So it's just like, it's very inspiring. And it's got, you know, we got a lot to represent
6:14
And he just brings so much love and just nuance to this work
6:18
It's been powerful. We're all growing already. I am so excited. I'm so excited to bring our town for our time
6:25
It's been a long time since it's been on Broadway. And it ain't ever been on Broadway like this
6:30
You know, And he just explodes forms. He explodes forms and makes room for us all
6:37
And you realize how delicate yet how sturdy this play is. It's not a nostalgia piece
6:43
Do you know what I mean? It's just a reminder. It's a reminder. This is short
6:47
This is short. This is short. This is short
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