"Our Town" - by Thornton Wilder - Worcester Count Light Opera Company (Worcester, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: George Smith as “George Gibbs” stares across the stars at Abby McIsaac as “Emily Webb” in a scene from Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“We all know that something is eternal... there's something way down deep that's eternal about every human being...”
- ("The Stage Manager") / Thornton Wilder
Worcester Count Light Opera Company
Presents Thornton Wilder's
"OUR TOWN"
Written by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Dawn Davis
Cast Includes: John Alzapiedi as “Stage Manager,” Patrick Bracken as “Constable Warren/Joe Stoddard,” Martha Kehrberg as “Rebecca Gibbs,” Steve Knox as “Dr. Gibbs,” Elijah Lidonde as “Simon Stimson,” Rob Lynds as “Howie Newsome,” Abby McIsaac as “Emily Webb,” Kathleen Moylan as “Mrs. Webb,” Kevin Moylan as “Mr. Webb,” Susan Nest as “Mrs. Soames,” Ellen O’Neall-Waite as “Mrs. Gibbs,” Daemien Peters as “Wally Webb,” Nicole Rawdon as “Sam Craig,” Peter Russo as “Professor Willard,” George Smith as “George Gibbs,” Timothy Weir as “Joe Crowell/Si Crowell.”
Additional Creative Team:
Stage Manager - Alexis Prosser; Producer and Costumes - Rachel Savage; Producer and Set Build - Ed Savage; Costumes - Liz Couture, Jo Ann Savage; Lighting and Projections Design - Matthew Wasser; Sound Design and Foley Artist - John Morello; Scenic Painter - Sally Bowditch; Set Painting - Peter Russo, Eric Butler; Movement Director - Elyse Brown.
Performances:
December 5, 2025 through December 14, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY (WCLOC), Grandview Ave. Playhouse, 21 Grandview Avenue, Worcester, MA.
TICKETS:
For tickets or more information call WCLOC at # 508-753-4383 or visit www.wcloc.org
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
Worcester County Light Opera Company (WCLOC) presents a fine staging of the literary masterpiece that is Thornton Wilder’s "OUR TOWN" and reminds us of what just why theatre companies keep returning to present this magnificent piece of literature.
The entire WCLOC Stage cast and creative team involved in this resourceful staging of "OUR TOWN" also help restate why it remains the quintessential American play.
The three-act play "OUR TOWN" (presented by WCLOC as two) was written by Wilder in 1938.
It was once accurately described by acclaimed playwright and author Edward Albee ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf") as "the greatest American play ever written."
The story of "OUR TOWN" revolves around the fictional American town of Grover’s Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.
Act One is a typical day in the life of those in the town, the second act is three years later and focuses on the wedding of two residents of the town, and the final act is appropriately titled as it is nine years later and looks at mortality and immortality through the eyes (both open and closed) of the characters.
Each member of the Worcester County Light Opera Company ensemble shines in their individual and collective moments elevated by the formidable approach taken by WCLOC director Dawn Davis.
(Photo: John Alzapiedi as the “Stage Manager” in a scene from Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
The story of "OUR TOWN" takes place up in the Peterborough area located just over the Massachusetts border.
I have seen many variations of the show and, while some productions seem to capture the spirit of the text, others completely miss the point by instead focusing on miniscule details such as “nailing” the stereotypical New Hampshire accent.
In fact, for decades, this show was a staple production performed at many schools across the country with "OUR TOWN" considered a young actor’s “rite of passage” (that is, of course, before “Legally Blonde the Musical” ultimately replaced it, he joked).
Similar to the staging by Boston's Lyric Stage earlier this season, this adaptation by the WCLOC team focuses less on how these NH residents depicted speak, and instead is more upon what these NH folks are saying, maintaining the relevancy of "OUR TOWN" after nearly nine decades.
After its initial 1938 Broadway premiere, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, "OUR TOWN" has since been revived seven times on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in the West End.
The 1989 revival won both the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival and Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
The role of the “Stage Manager,” our guide through the story, has become a kind of "blueprint" for most narrators in plays that have come since, the role having been cemented in portrayals by such legendary actors as Hal Holbrook, Henry Fonda, Alan Alda, Peters Newman and was performed in the most recent rival by “Big Bang Theory” actor Jim Parsons.
John Alzapiedi as the WCLOC's “Stage Manager” is no less outstanding in the role, comfortable while directly addressing the audience, communicating in a frank, compelling way the heartfelt, occasionally intimate nature of the story without becoming overly (or overtly) sentimental.
His character takes on a broader purpose but ultimately is there to merely relay the events of what we are about to witness, not to tell us how we should feel about those events.
(Photo: George Smith as “George Gibbs” stares across the stars at Abby McIsaac as “Emily Webb” in a scene from Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
Part of the appeal of the WCLOC show is in the bare bones approach taken to tell the story of Grover’s Corners, which is less about geographical location but more about interpersonal human relationships and existence itself (more on that later).
The sparseness of the WCLOC stage space itself is offset by the impressive use of projections along the back walls and by the abundance of talent in its cast on stage.
During Act One (which is entitled “Daily Life”) we are not only introduced to the characters by the Stage Manager, but also to the actual actors portraying those characters - a novel approach to any play and one that is still virtually unpracticed.
Wilder incorporated the use of theatrical devices allowing the actors to interact with the audience not only as themselves but as their characters at pinpointed times in the script.
During their scenes, the actors in the WCLOC production use no props, instead using mime or pantomime to denote the actions being performed.
While the story that takes place is firmly set in Grover’s Corners, there is a universal ambience in place.
In fact, the role of the "Stage Manager" takes on less of a theatrical presence as his title suggests and evolves more into that of an omniscient being, guiding us and the players through everything that happens.
A debate is normally had asking the question if the role of the "Stage Manager" is supposed to be God. What do you think? I think if you ask ANY veteran stage manager, they would have some interesting responses.
(Photo: George Smith as “George Gibbs” stares across the aisle at Abby McIsaac as “Emily Webb” in a scene from Act Two of Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
To provide us with a somewhat "celestial experience", the use of recorded music in the WCLOC staging works at some moments but detracts during others.
Similarly, the use of Foley sound effects provides an interesting “radio show” feel to the overall production albeit working well at some points but distracting during other moments.
Also, the curious use of a particular song so far out of time for the era the show in which the story is set does not succeed in enhancing the overall "universal" ambience of the show.
Among the Grover’s Corners residents we meet are the Gibbs and Webb families.
For the former Gibbs family we meet Doc Gibbs (Steve Knox) and his wife, Julia (Ellen O’Neall-Waite), along with their two children, George (George Smith) and Rebecca (Martha Kehrberg).
In the latter Webb family, there is Charles Webb (Kevin Moylan), editor of the local newspaper, and his wife, Myrtle (Kathleen Moylan), daughter Emily (Abby McIsaac) and son, Wally (Daemien Peters).
(Photo: Abby McIsaac as “Emily Webb” in a scene from Act Two of Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
A seemingly normal, relatively mundane day-to-day existence takes place throughout the WCLOC show’s first act.
We also learn more about the town as the Stage Manager introduces us directly to both Editor Webb and also Professor Willard (Peter Russo), each of whom informs us as to the history of the town and “field questions from the audience” (wink-wink).
Among other residents we meet include Constable Warren and funeral director Joe Stoddard (both portrayed by Patrick Bracken); town gossip Mrs. Soames (Susan Nest) who loves weddings and everybody else's business; and then there's troubled choir director Simon Stimson (Elijah Lidonde), who suffers the slings and arrows of such town gossip. All strong performances.
As the first act ends and second act (entitled “Love and Marriage”) unfolds, it quickly becomes apparent that much of the focus rests upon the two “lovers” of the story – George and Emily in some of the most charming moments of the story accentuated by the chemistry between actors Smith and McIsaac.
With George and Emily about to be married, the relationships between their respective parents and how they married get explored, allowing for more character revelations resulting from strong performances from actors Knox, O’Neall-Waite, and the Moylans as the couple’s parents.
(Photo: Kevin Moylan as “Mr. Webb” departs a cemetery with Kathleen Moylan as “Mrs. Webb” in a scene from Thornton Wilder's "OUR TOWN" presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company in Worcester, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Amy Mae Photography)
The final act follows immediately after Act Two and is entitled “Death and Eternity” - focusing on the death of a pivotal character nine years after George and Emily’s wedding and taking place at the cemetery outside of town.
Some of the residents we met in Acts One and Two are also present, either still living or (spoiler alert) deceased.
McIsaac, as Emily, dominates much of this “final” act and effortlessly maintains our focus throughout the final moments of the play.
This act is where Wilder gets to explore higher more existential themes such as life, death, existence and even non-existence - whether any of those great things we leave behind are really any more important than those little things - like how we lived our own mundane day-to-day existence while we were here.
"OUR TOWN" continues this holiday season at WCLOC until December 14th, 2025 and is well worth the travel, both distance and back in time.
Coming in 2026, Worcester County Light Opera Company will present Jonathan Spector's “EUREKA” beginning February 13th and running through February 22nd, 2026.
For tickets or more information call WCLOC at # 508-753-4383 or visit www.wcloc.org
BUY TICKETS
Approximately two hours, 10 minutes with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE STORY
Every minute is a gift.
An American classic for our time.
The day starts and ends pretty much the same way in Grover’s Corner.
Beyond the humdrum of daily life, glimmers of joy, flickers of melancholy, and secret desires are hidden away in the mundane.
It’s in the eyes of young lovers, the silence of a lonely townie’s room, and the hearts of the wild and restless.
Stars shine over this sleepy New England town, but are dimmed when compared with the wonderment tucked away within the seemingly ordinary moments of this place so many call “home.”
Even in the smallest of moments, beauty is there.
The secret is to stop and take notice.
For tickets or more information call WCLOC at # 508-753-4383 or visit www.wcloc.org
BUY TICKETS
ABOUT WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY (WCLOC)
Founded in 1937, WCLOC is Worcester’s oldest active theater company. As a local, non-profit community theater, we depend on the generosity of our members, patrons, subscribers, and donors to help forward the mission of our organization to entertain, inform, and nurture local artists and audiences through the production of high quality, affordable musicals, plays, and children’s educational workshops. A donation to WCLOC allows us to continue to keep tickets affordable for local audiences, helps us maintain and make necessary improvements to our Clubhouse, and supports a full season of memorable theater and educational opportunities.
WORCESTER COUNTY LIGHT OPERA COMPANY
P.O. Box # 51
Worcester, MA. 01613
# 508-753-4383
