The Fantasticks

 

“The Fantasticks” is the longest running musical in the world. It ran for 42 years (more than 17,000 performances) off Broadway. A revival opened in 2006 and is still going strong. As of 2010, its original investors have earned 240 times their original investments.

The musical has played throughout the United States and in at least 67 foreign countries. Now it is playing at Sacramento Theatre Company in a production that should not be missed.

This is a 1960 musical, with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, that tells a story about two neighboring parents who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud. As the time of their hoped-for betrothal approaches, the parents hire traveling actors to stage a mock abduction, so that Matt can heroically seem to save Luisa, ending the supposed feud between the two families.

The plan backfires. When the children discover the deception, they reject the arranged love match and separate, and, separately, wander out into the world, their experiences so painful that they return home with wiser eyes and take up where they left off.

The lesson to be learned is that parents should not meddle in their children’s love lives!

It’s a simple story; the conundrum is why it has been so popular for so along. Other than the song, “Try to Remember,” and a few forgettable songs recorded by Barbra Streisand that people may know from that recording, there is no fabulous score. There is essentially no set, no jazzy Broadway-type pizzazz, and yet people love it.

Audiences especially will love this STC production, which has a fabulous cast including the just-turned-15 actress Monique Ward Lonergan, who is irresistibly enchanting as Luisa. Despite being on stage with seven seasoned Sacramento actors, she not only holds her own, but makes this her show.

Another towering performance is given by Jerry Lee, who plays El Gallo, who narrates the story and becomes part of it later. He enters as a larger-than-life presence with a pair of twinkling eyes that engage the audience immediately.

Later, as he becomes the contractor for the men who will attempt to abduct Luisa, that twinkle turns evil and he is every bit as scary as any depiction of Lucifer you may have seen. Add to that the powerful voice, and you have a magnificent performance.

Luisa’s love is Matt (Joshua Durfey), who loves the girl across the wall their parents have erected and about whom she swoons in the manner of every 15-year-old. Durfey, making his STC debut, has an extensive Shakespearean background. He is the perfect idealistic young man, head over heels in love with this girl he has barely met.

The parents in the original show were both fathers, but in this one Luisa has a father and Matt has a mother. It does not change the story at all. Michael Coleman is Luisa’s father, well-meaning, but bungling. Amanda Goldrick (an Ann B. Davis doppelganger) is Matt’s mother, delighting in her plot with Luisa’s father, excited as a child when they scheme to have the young girl abducted so that Matt can come to her aid and win her affection.

Tara Henry plays the mute who becomes the wall over which Matt and Luisa communicate, and also Mortimer, the assistant thug hired to kidnap Luisa.

Gary S. Martinez, an STC favorite, is delicious as Henry, trying to figure out his role in the abduction plot and emoting all over the stage.

The intimacy of STC’s Pollock Stage helps the intimacy of this show (a character nearly fell into the lap of an audience member on opening night).

This was my third time seeing this show and I don’t remember enjoying it this much the first two times. If you’ve never seen “The Fantasticks,” it’s a piece of theater history and you owe it to yourself to catch this entertaining production.

The Fantasticks

A small number of lucky people had the good fortune to attend the opening of “The Fantasticks” at Wyatt Pavilion on Friday night. 

This engaging production, with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt is directed by Kathryn Morison and features Elio Gutierrez as El Gallo, Giana Gambardella as Luisa, Matt Skinner as Matt, Roberto Aguilar as Luisa’s father Bellomy, and Jason Moscato as Matt’s father Hucklebee.  The traveling players are Matthew Benitez as Mortimer and David D’Olimpia as Henry. Edward Sukla is the Mute.

Music is listed as being provided by keyboardist Vuthithor “in” Chinthammit, who, not surprisingly, has no bio in the program.

“The Fantastics” is the world’s longest-running musical, having run an amazing 42 years, from 1960 to 2002 or 17,162 performances.  It re-opened off Broadway in 2006 and continues to run today.  It was awarded the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theater in 1991.   

This is a popular show for high schools, and community theater since the set is minimal and the cast is small, but that should in no way minimize the impact of the simple story of a boy and a girl being tricked into falling love by their fathers, falling out of love, going out into the world and returning home again after negative experiences.  They learn that if they want to find their hearts’ desire, they should look no further than their own back yard.

The small, intimate setting of the Wyatt Pavilion is perfect for this intimate show.

From the moment Elio Gutierrez makes his entrance as the narrator El Gallo (a role made famous by Jerry Orbach), singing the iconic “Try to Remember” and inviting the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. you know that you are in for something special. The charismatic Gutierrez is smooth and confident, with a sly hint of larceny about him from time to time. He dominates whenever he is on stage.

Gambardella is the innocent 16 year old Luisa, in her full-petticoated virginal dress designed by award winning Costume Designer Roxanne Femling.  Gambardella’s voice is beautiful as she sings about her dreams (dance till 2 o’clock, wear her hair unfastened, and to be the kind of girl who is kissed on the eyes).  She wants “Much More” out of life

Skinner’s Matt is a young man head over heels in love with the girl next door, whom he can only see over the unseen wall (mimed by Suela) the fathers built in a faux feud designed to make their children fall in love with each other, because the way to make children do what you want them to do is to tell them “no.”

Moscato and Aguilar give engaging performances as the two scheming fathers, eager for their children to be married to each other.

When the fathers decide it’s time for the young people to fall in love, Hucklebee tells Bellomy of his plan to end the feud by having Luisa "kidnapped" by a professional so that Matt can "rescue" her and appear heroic.

Things don’t quite go as planned, however. They meet with El Gallo, who is to arrange for an abduction.  Discussion is made about what kind of abduction the fathers want. The fathers decide not to stint themselves, but do it well and settle on a “first class rape.” 

D’Olimpia and Benitez  as, respectively, ancient ham actor Henry and hangdog death-scene specialist Mortimer, hired as the would-be abductors, capture the audience with their antics.

Matt foils the abduction attempts, but exposure of the plot changes the relationship between Luisa and Matt and each decides to leave home and go out into the world, separately, to seek their heart’s desire.  Returning later, dejected and emotionally injured, the children realize that everything they wanted was each other, only now they understand it more deeply.

This is a delightful production that deserves a wider audience than it got on opening night.

The Fantasticks

Does a show, written in the 1960s and designed to celebrate a simpler time, still play in the cell phone, computer games, ipod 2000s? 

It does, if the show is the immensely popular “The Fantasticks,” the longest running show of any kind in United States history and the longest running musical in the world.  “The Fantasticks.” with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, is a legend of musical theatre, playing off-Broadway at the Sullivan Street Playhouse from 1960 until its closing in January 2002.  It returns to Music Circus after an absence of 37 years.

What is the appeal of a show with essentially no set, save for two benches, no fancy costumes, no special effects, no razzle-dazzle lighting, and only 4 musicians in the pit? 

Perhaps it appeals to the youth in all of us.  The Narrator, in his opening song, asks us to “try to remember a kind of September when life was slow and oh so mellow...”  We then share the fresh love of two youngsters, the beautiful falling in love, the painful falling out of love, the joy of discovering that love was there all along.

In less talented hands the story may not play quite so successfully, but electricity and chemistry fairly ooze out of the 8 members of the cast of this production.  They draw us in instantly and we are lost in this simple world, remembering our own kinds of September.

The Montagues and the Capulets could take a lesson from the two fathers in this play.  The parents want their kids to marry and figure that the way to drive them together is to forbid them to see each other. 

Don Mayo is Hucklebee, The Boy’s father.  He has a big voice and glides around the stage like melted butter. 

The Girl’s Father, Bellomy, is played by Steve Routman, fastidious man with the precision of an accountant.

Their second act duet, “Plant a Radish,” is delightful.

As The Girl (Luisa), Yuka Takara is irresistible.  From the moment she is introduced as a 16 year old girl, longing for her own true love and going through the dramatics that accompany teen age angst, she intoxicating.  She sings beautifully and her duets with The Boy are delicious.

James Snyder as The Boy (Matt) has an open honesty about him.  His love for Luisa is palpable.

The central figure is The Narrator (Norm Lewis).  Lewis is tall, commanding, and mesmerizing.  He holds the audience in the palm of his hand with his opening song and keeps them there throughout the show.

Debbi Fuhrman has an amazing impact as the mute who acts as the wall between the gardens of the two families, and supplies the minimal props that are used.
The buffoons, Henry (Sal Mistretta) and Mortimer (“the Man Who Dies”) played by Chris Weikel add a delightful Shakespearean touch to the story with their faux abduction of Luisa.

All’s well that ends well, and after some sadness, The Boy and The Girl discover that true love doesn’t lie any farther than the back yard.

If you have never seen “The Fantasticks,” by all means take this opportunity to acquaint yourself with theatre history.  If you have seen “The Fantasticks,” treat yourself to a new cast and a delightful production.