Actors shine in idealized past of ‘Our Town’

“Our Town” is one of those plays, like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Oklahoma!,” that feel familiar even if you’ve never seen them. Bits of it show up in movies and TV shows as an evocation of wholesome Americana, making it the theater’s answer to a Norman Rockwell painting or a Frank Capra film.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the piece, which won a Pulitzer Prize for playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. And one could not ask for a more beautifully rendered exploration of this classic drama than the current production at Phoenix Theatre, which adds a subtle musical backdrop to Wilder’s elegiac narrative.

Each of “Our Town’s” three acts depicts a day in the life of fictional Grover’s Corners, N.H., in 1901, 1903 and 1913. The play is narrated by a character called Stage Manager who serves up context and commentary while directing traffic on a stage with a bare minimum of props and scenery.

Director Pasha Yamotahari executes Wilder’s metatheatrical conceit to perfection. When the actors are not in a scene, they sit along the downstage wall, humming music or creating sound effects. To evoke a rainstorm, the entire cast makes noise by snapping fingers and slapping laps. The costumes are conspicuously not period-perfect, but they underline the archetypal averageness of the townsfolk.

While there is no clear protagonist, the closest thing to a plot is the relationship between George and Emily, whom we first meet as teenagers bubbling with aw-shucks innocence. In the former role, California actor Robert Anthony Peters creates a remarkably nuanced portrayal of a baseball-loving extrovert who collapses into shyness in the presence of his destined love. Meanwhile, Phoenix Theatre regular Jenny Hintze at first seems to overplay the wide eyes and wide smile, but that’s really how Wilder has written the character; her performance deepens satisfyingly as her character matures.

Several of the Valley’s best-known actors give excellent turns as well, including Mike Lawler as the wise Stage Manager, Ben Tyler as the implacable Dr. Gibbs and Dion Johnson as the affable newspaperman Mr. Webb. Shari Watts is particularly affecting as a patient housewife who dreams of traveling to Paris, and Alan Ruch, who’s usually backstage conducting the orchestra in Phoenix Theatre’s musicals,