If musicals
are the pastries of the American theater, then “The Fantasticks,” with book and
lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmit, is up there on the shelf with
the napoleons and cream puffs. This lighthearted quasi-fairy tale, which opened
Off-Broadway in 1960 and ran for 42 years, tells a simple tale of boy meets
girls, they fall in love, their love is apparently thwarted (not really), they
part, but life intervenes to teach them both lessons that bring them back
together. In its current iteration at the Ivoryton Playhouse, the pastry has
been prepared with exquisite taste and style and should please diverse palates.
There’s
been a slight (well, maybe not so slight) change in the casting. In the
original production, the two lovers are kept apart (by plan) by their fathers.
In the Ivoryton version, it’s the mothers, Hucklebee (Patricia Schuman) and
Bellomy (Carly Callahan) who build a wall (Cory Candelet, playing The Mute) to
ostensibly keep the young lovers apart, the point being that all you have to do
to get a child to do something is to say “No” to them, a form of reverse
psychology that all parents come to understand. Thus, the two young people,
Matt (Ryan Bloomquist) and Luisa (the enchanting Kimberly Immanuel), pine, ache,
moan and dream of their eventual union.
Said union
is to be finally brought about by a faux abduction paid for by the mothers and crafted
by El Gallo (David Pittsinger), a suave bandit, and two second-rate thespians
who were, or are, literally born in a trunk: Mortimer (Will Clark), whose main
claim to fame is his ability to die, and Henry (R. Bruce Connelly), who handles
quotes from Shakespeare as if he is concocting trail mix. They will abduct the
fair Luisa but allow Matt to save her…and thus the couple will live happily
ever after.
Thus ends the first act, with a
tableau that also opens the second act, the idea being that the actors have
held their poses throughout the intermission. Of course, things quickly fall
apart, for puppy love and fairy tales must inevitably rub up against harsh
reality. Matt, sensing flaws in Luisa (“freckles!”), decides instead to
experience the world, and Luisa, under El Gallo’s tutelage, just wants to be
“bad.” They each go through their own dark nights of the soul and eventually
realize what they really want is each other.
Most of the evening is totally
engaging, thanks to the stellar cast that artistic director Jacqueline Hubbard
has put together and the deft direction and choreography by Brian Feehan. The
show I saw was early on in the run, but what was noticeable was how comfortable
the actors seemed to be on the set created by Martin Scott Marchitto and how
well Marcus Abbott’s lighting cues worked. Why surprising? Well, actors in
theaters like Ivoryton often don’t get the opportunity to actually rehearse on
the stage where they will be performing until shortly before the play opens. It
takes a while to adjust, but apparently the adjustment was seamless.
As noted, the cast is excellent,
but if standouts are necessary to mention, then I would point to Pittsinger,
who has a phenomenal stage presence as El Gallo (and, given his operatic
background, turns “Try to Remember” into a haunting hymn), and Immanuel, who
glitters and glows and, in the first act, faints delightfully (and often).
Kudos also to Clark for his extended death scene (I’m surprised the actors were
able to suppress laughter) and Schuman and Callahan for the sprightly and
engaging delivery of “Plant a Radish.”
It’s easy to see why “The
Fantasticks” had such a long run. It’s a simple, touching story graced by some
lovely songs, including the aforementioned “Try to Remember” and “Soon it’s
Gonna Rain,” and in the case of the Ivoryton production, made memorable by a
cast that is just about flawless. The Sunday matinee I attended was a packed
house, and I would imagine that word-of-mouth will continue to fill the seats,
for this production is a lovely way for Ivoryton to open its 2018 season.
“The Fantasticks”
runs through April 8. For tickets or more information call 860-767-7318 or go
to www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.
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