The reason why I chose a
review by Oscar E Moore from Talk
Entertainment is that I enjoy that Mr. Moore finds the beauty of Our Town
in the very true philosophic ideas. Even though what he reviews is not only the
original play, but mainly a theatre performance, he concentrates on the best passages
of the work that should be appreciated.
The first thing I
enjoyed was the phrase “Thornton Wilder must be chatting up a storm with his
cemetery friends about this [performance]“, which refers to the Third Act of Our Town that partly takes place in cemetery
and the dead characters are having a conversation.
The author of the review
masters in summarizing the plot and gently foreshadows the main theme as “in
order to love life we have to have life and to have life we have to love life
and we should not be blind to what is important. To really look at each other
to really listen to one another and to love one another before it is no longer
possible to do that.” This might not be very understandable for the first
reading but when understood, it carries a great intellectual value.
Only
great writers can comment on the universality of this play as following “A
thousand years from now this play will still resonate with its real and
heartfelt sentiments. This is the way they were, living and dying. This is what
is really important. Being happy with your loved ones. How life should be
valued. It all passes too quickly.” Using such cogent phrases, he perfectly describes
and reveals the power and beauty of this drama.
I
identify with Mr. Moore’s opinion on Our
Town in spite of my previous comments on the dullness of the book.
The review and
the source of my quotes can be displayed by opening this link: http://talkentertainment.com/c-9346-Thornton-Wilder%E2%80%99s-Our-Town-%E2%80%93-Timeless-Classic-Off-B%E2%80%99way.aspx