After the Dream:
A sequel to the previous note,
“Through a Soda-Fountain Mirror, Darkly”
From John Lahr’s recent review of “Our Town”:
“We all know that something is eternal,” the Stage Manager says. “And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even stars—everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings.”
The conclusion of Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass:
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream —
Lingering in the golden gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?
An apt setting for a realistic production of “Our Town” would be Randolph, N.Y., a rather timeless place that a few years ago even had a working soda fountain of the traditional sort. Yesterday’s note was prompted in part by an obituary of a young girl who attended St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Randolph.
This is the reason for tonight’s site music, “After a Dream,” by Fauré.
See also Piper Laurie’s recent film, St. Patrick’s Day.