Capsule Reviews

Our Town — In a way, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning classic is as insular as its title suggests: either you’re the sort of person who is touched by this idyll of small-town life in New Hampshire circa 1901, or it’s way too precious for you. Directors Kate Christ and Mary Galde do a fine job wrangling the necessary pantomime and mixed bag of performances into amiable life, though at best any punchlines elicit a gentle smile. The folksiness is somewhat undermined by having the Stage Manager who walks us through his beloved town be a stuffy British guy in a three-piece suit, placidly played by Troy Johnson, who also assembled the famously skeletal set. Martha Luehrman and Pat Cross carry a quiet dignity as austere housewives, David Ammon is a nicely avuncular Doc Gibbs, and Jack Starr and Casi Maggio are the very picture of foot-shuffling bashfulness as the young lovers — though gosh, “lovers” sounds so dirty. — S.H. (Through February 12 at Broadway West; 510-683-9218 or Broadway-West.com)