Our Town

Our Town, a play by Thornton Wilder, has no scenery, no props, requires no costumes other than street clothes, and has essentially no plot. It does deal with issues such as life and death, temporal limits, and eternity. The play transcends entertainment in much the same way the Bible transcends literature, or relativity transcends a scientific theory. It is estimated that the play is performed every day somewhere in the world. Essentially all performances of this play bring light into the world.

Except two.

The original film adaptation (1940) converted the third act into a dream sequence. Emily didn't die, she woke up, married George, and rendered all the questions posed by Wilder moot. This Hollywood Happy Ending, in my opinion, is a mindless abomination. Perhaps the producer was planning a sequel in which George and Emily's kids join the Navy and single-handedly avenge Pearl Harbor on board the USS Grover's Corners.

There is a musical adaptation (1955) in which Frank Sinatra was the Stage Manager, and sang "Love and Marriage". Perhaps this inspired Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler" lunacy. After all, this swill appeared on a television program called "Producers' Showcase".

Aaron Copland wrote the music for the 1940 film. His thematic synthesis "Our Town" is one of the cornerstones of the American symphonic literature. It is simple, poignant, and beautiful. Most of Copland's music could serve as incidental music for the play, but I have never heard of any such production. . Below is a setting I created of most of Act 3 to some not-too-well-known Copland.

http://home.comcast.net/~steventrish/otown.mp3