SPOILERS WITHIN!!!<br /><br />Working as a second shift engineer at a PBS station has it's compensations... and the WNET production of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN is one of them!<br /><br />The night that we aired it I didn't get a whole lot of other work done; it grabbed me from start to finish, and I stayed married to my console and program monitors all the way through.<br /><br />This version has more guts than the 1940s movie version in that it's much more true to Wilder's original intent. This version doesn't "chicken out" on the ending and spare Emily's life. I always considered the Hollywood ending to be an unforgivable act of cowardice.<br /><br />I've seen the play many times before, but this production startled me in it's final act with a single bit of stagecraft.<br /><br />The sequence featuring Emily's funeral... mourners singing around the grave. Emily's sudden appearance as she leaves the world of the living is unexpected, and ELECTRIFYING! It's the slickest handling of this part that I've ever seen, anywhere!!!<br /><br />The following sequence with her as the new arrival to the graveyard, and her attempts to relive the best day of her life are BEAUTIFULLY handled. The performances are absolutely riveting.<br /><br />I'd STRONGLY recommend this performance for introducing teenagers to the dramatic stage... if it's possible to get use rights, it would make an EXCELLENT classroom teaching tool, especially that amazing final act.<br /><br />If you get the chance to see this performance DO SO!!!