American Classic Season Finale Review: Cling To The Work

When I set out to review American Classic, I never expected to discover one of my favorite shows.

Sure, it had an amazing cast and an interesting premise, but exactly how far could they take the show-within-a-show concept in this day and age? Apparently, so far. So deep.

American Classic Season 1 Episode 8 not only delivers an opening-night performance I’d give my left arm to be at but also unites all of Millersburg behind the MFT vision of a revitalized future, founded on something creative and authentic.

At the heart of it is the Bean family. Every member has their own demon to wrestle with — now, more than ever — and hard truths to face.

And, having grown to know and love them all, we’re here for it.

American Classic, “Our Town”

Putting on a show is more than scripts and costumes. In the case of Richard Bean’s production of Our Town, it’s even more than real rain and a working soda fountain.

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The MFT’s inaugural return to not-dinner-theater performance touches and affects every member of its cast and crew, for good and ill. It reunites the Bean family on-stage and exposes the cracks in the Pat Pattersons’ marriage.

Being part of Our Town inspires participants to set aside some of life’s more practical matters to bring about something greater than the sum of their individual contributions. That’s the power of Theater.

Cling to the Work

This is where the drama class kid in me just SINGS with joy.

One of my favorite high school theater teachers once explained that great performances depend on the actors splitting their consciousness.

There is the actor’s consciousness, remembering the lines, the blocking, and the rehearsed pacing and pauses. Then there is the character’s consciousness, imbuing the words with meaning, the movement with energy, the pacing and pauses with significance.

But everything else the actor is dealing with — personal drama, pain, external stressors — must be forgotten. Unless it feeds the character’s motivations, they must leave it in the dressing room.

Richard: You’re in your old spot. Right here, opening night, having a meltdown.

Kristen: Miranda’s going to tell Jon everything. After the show. And she’s never going to talk to either of us ever again. I have made such a sh*show…

Richard: No, no, I did my bit. It’s not going to get any better if the show’s not good so let’s, uh…

Kristen: Cling to the work.

Richard: Cling to the work.

On American Classic, we see this demonstrated as a masterclass of stagecraft. Kristen sets her turmoil aside but lets it infuse Mrs. Webb’s uncertainty and apprehension.

We, the television audience, know where that tight composure stems from and how much she’s holding it together as a wife and mother.

But we, the theater audience, see only the luminous performance, feeling a mother’s fear and love.

For Miranda, Richard, and Kristen—grappling IRL with the possibility that Miranda could be Richard’s biological daughter—they must voluntarily dissociate to deliver the characters they’re portraying.

But all that inner conflict and apprehension finds a place on stage, too.

Perhaps Miranda finds a throughway in her performance. In portraying Emily’s love for Mrs. Webb onstage, Miranda is subtly reminded of how much Kristen has done for her, the family, and the town.

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Nothing makes you appreciate a loved one and a relationship as much as dying and no longer being heard. As Emily in Act 3, Miranda has foresight that precludes any joy she can feel by living in the past.

And when she tries to tell Jon the truth about her paternity after the show, she has a similar moment of prophetic vision and stops herself, valuing her father’s happiness over brutal honesty.

Slings and Arrows

Opening night at the MFT is a stacked audience of adulation and critical scrutiny. Richard’s presence attracts New York City attention, which only heightens the nerves already on a razor’s edge.

In his corner are his ex-wife, Polly, with set-design benefits, and his agent, Alvy. Also, the whole town — including occasional antagonist Boyle — is there, rooting for a resounding success. There might even be a reconciliation for the Pat Pattersons on the horizon.

But for influential theater critic Xander (played by the versatile Stephen Spinella, another American Classic actor pulling double duty with his regular role on Best Medicine) and his hot-headed husband, Troy (hello again, Aaron Tveit!), traveling to see the show is both intriguing and terrifying.

As it turns out, outrageous fortune favors the bold (and the well-prepared), and opening night is breathtakingly perfect, missed cue and all.

And that is inarguably true for both the MFT’s Our Town production and MGM+’s American Classic Season 1. (Speaking of selective dissociation.)

Bean There, Done That

In the idealized dream world where a successful theater production can save an entire town, the Bean family and the Millersburg Festival Theater struck gold with Our Town.

But the follow-up is always the tricky bit. For both a theater company and a television series.

The backstage drama will need addressing if they are to move forward.

Jon’s gambling addiction and the lost college fund. Linus’s dementia. Miranda’s possible paternity truth. Richard’s commitment to Lear in London’s West End.

And what will Richard choose for the MFT’s next classic American play? Eugene O’Neill’s Iceman? Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar? Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman?

There is a huge library to choose from. What would you vote to see?

While we all await news on MGM+ renewing American Classic for a second season, I strongly recommend y’all find a way to watch the three seasons of show creator Bob Martin’s Slings and Arrows.

Let’s have at ‘er, Fanatics!

Were you as surprised as I was at the intense, immersive, yet heart-warming notes American Classic Season 1 struck?

Did you expect Kevin Kline to cut such a sympathetic figure? Is Laura Linney not the G.O.A.T., and Nell Verlaque an absolute star?

Share your thoughts on the finale, feedback on the season, and wish list for next season in our comments section below. The intermission between seasons might be a long one. Let’s talk!

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