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The Fantasticks
NORTHERN LIGHTS The Fantasticks had the honor of being off Broadway's longest running musical for four decades - if that's an indication of its success - and now it is coming our way via The Chance Theater. It's a whimsical love comedy, breezy as the summer air, yet deceivedly deep. The story line is as old as time: boy and girl in love with each other, over their parents wishes. Or so it appears at first sight. Erika Ceporius Miller is sixteen year old Luisa and Matthew Smith twenty year old Matt. She's everything a teenager must be, complete with de rigueur attitude, flights of fancy dreams, princesshood, and utter self centeredness. She compares herself to every romantic heroine in every time honed love story, only to be confronted with the jarring reality of her - gasp - 'normal' father. Over the wall which separates the two yards, it's much the same scenario, reversed, with Matt and his mother. The two starry eyed youths clandestinely date at the wall. Little do they know they are being manipulated by savvy parents who know 'no' is a teen's favorite word, and kids will go to great lengths to disobey whatever it is their parents don't want them to do. Sound familiar? To aid in the subterfuge, the parents connivate an elaborate moonlit ravishing scene with dark El Gallo and his accolytes, giving Matt the illusion of being a classical hero. On this highest of romantic note, love triumphs as it must and everything ends well as it does, except denouements usually don't take as to the other side of 'and they lived happily ever after'. That's the marriage part, when all that was shiny and new quickly turns dull and love even develops into hate. So how does one cure marital blues? With fresh excitement, of course! But how these greener pastures also fade in the harsh light of reality. El Gallo himself, Darren Buckels, is at once MC, master puppeteer, and romantic protagonist during the course of the play, with his silent cohort, mute Thea Johnson in a classical mime role. Buckels dazzles with his Latin routines and sultry voice. Ventura Alvarez as Henry and Alex Bueno as Mortimer are El Gallo's gentle buffoon props. Husband and wife team Lisa and Tom Zaradich are Hucklebee and Bellomy, well meaning parents, feuding neighbors and reluctant in-laws who bemoan the easiness of growing a garden versus raising children. Co-directors Jocelyn Brown and Oanh Nguyen summon a magical atmosphere on Tom Jones' text studded with classical references. It may only be a paper moon, by the artifice of a stage within the stage, but it entrances the audience to a fairy like landscape of smoke and mirrors along with the protagonists. The characters, plot, lines and even words play on parallel paradoxes from beginning to end, underlining the dichotomy of naive innocence versus staid staleness, the scenic versus the cynic. Harvey Schmidt's music, played live by Bill Wolfe, changes imperceptibly with the moods, from light as feather musings to clashing dischord. Joseph Horn's minimalist set delienates spaces and settings by suggestion with simple and surprisingly effective props. Everything from Erika Ceporius Miller's costuming to Kristel Koehler's dance choreography and the staging itself contributes to the perfect symmetricality which is a signature of this musical. All that is asked is to forget the complexities of our
lives and let ourselves drift for a couple of hours to a simpler time
in September. Yes, the kind when one was young and in love, before December
came and chased the sunny skies away.
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YORBA LINDA
STAR Veteran stage, screen and television actor Jerry Orbach was just a young man when he debuted the role of El Gallo, in the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical “The Fantasticks.” Orbach first sang the lyrics “Try to remember when love was an ember about to billow,” in New York City, 1961. The show was an instant hit. A “mere” 17,162 performances later, it closed at The Sullivan Street Playhouse — off Broadway — in January of 2002, laying claim to the title of the longest running musical in history! Locally, The Chance Theater continues this tradition of excellence. A perfect match of fantasy, action, superb voices and creative staging, The Chance more than does justice to the original work. The production, in this modest venue, is simply “Fantastick!” The setting is a “Simpler September” where Hucklebee (the mother of Henry) and Bellamy (the father of Luisa) plot to trick their children into falling in love. Head strong and empty headed, the would be young lovers are intrigued by the allure of the unknown that lies just beyond the tall garden wall. True love eventually emerges after a few major missteps, encountering some wacky and romantic strangers, a fake abduction, and a least a dozen memorable songs — The haunting standout “Try to Remember” is closely matched by the tender “They Were You” and the humorous “Plant a Radish.” By the end of the evening, each audience member is remembering a time in their lives “When dreams were kept beside your pillow.” This is heady stuff, with more wonderful surprises than a pinata filled by Donald Trump. Tackling the classic role of El Gallo is Darren C. Buckles.
Buckles has a rich baritone voice, a swashbuckling manner, and a roguish
twinkle in his eye, making him the perfect fantasy bandit. He opens and
closes the show with “Try to Remember.” It is memorable indeed.
Young Luisa is played with delightful simplicity by Erika Ceporius Miller.
Her trained soprano voice is first class and her balletic movements were
enchanting. This is yet another star turn for this talented young woman.
Matthew Smith assumed the role of Matt. He was boyish and pleasant-voiced
in the role of a “tender and callow fellow.” Ventura Alvarez and Alex Bueno team up a Shakespearean “ham” actor named Henry and his sidekick Mortimer. Alvarez risks life and limb to heighten each joke. Bueno is also perfectly cast as an Indian with an English accent. She is always a surprise and great fun to watch on stage. And — a new favorite — Thea Johnson played The Mute. This pixie of a woman, with the essence of Bernadette Peters, spoke not a word and captured our hearts. Wearing white face and a top hat, Johnson supplied the wall, the rain and the snow... You have to see it to believe it! The inventive and imaginative dance choreography was
well done by Kristel Koehler, while the simple fantasy sets and sword
fighting sequence was handled with flair by Joseph Horn. Co-directed by
Jocelyn A. Brown and Oanh Nguyen “The Fantasticks” touched
all the bases and scored a home run on opening night. This production
is as seamless as it is timeless — Just “try to remember”
that it closes August 23. This is not “South Pacific” but
it was “Some Enchanted Evening!"
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ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER Well-crafted theater pieces such as "The Fantasticks" that appeal to nostalgia can't go wrong, whether playing to audiences enjoying halcyon days or those suffering through troubled times. When composer Harvey Schmidt and his pal, lyricist Tom Jones, first dreamed the show up, they were college students in the 1950s whose only intent was to take Rostand's "Les Romanesques" and set it to music. Little did they dream the work would ultimately set an off-Broadway record of 17,162 performances, opening in May 1960 and closing in January 2002. The show's name recognition with audiences and minimal technical demands make it popular with small theater troupes everywhere. At the Chance Theater, co-directors Jocelyn A. Brown and Oanh Nguyen create a restrained, low-key evening, balancing the first half's light, dreamy air with a more somber - and realistic - tone in Act 2. What lofts along this sweet folk tale about life is its utter simplicity, and the beguiling songs crafted by Schmidt and Jones. The signature number, "Try to Remember," implores us to reach deep down and recall a time "when life was mellow." That this staging allows us to do so owes to canny casting and the solid musical direction of Bill Wolfe, who accompanies from on stage. Well-cast in the focal roles of girl- and boy-next-door Luisa and Matt are Erika Ceporius Miller and Matthew Smith. Fair-haired and -skinned, both are clad (by costume designer Miller) in creams and whites, emphasizing their essential purity. The lithe, beaming Miller evokes the simple pleasures and deep longings of every 16-year-old girl. The casting of Smith is a masterstroke - he's small of stature, with pale features and reddish-blonde hair. Though not the conventionally handsome leading man, he matches up well with Miller - visually, in the fine dance scenes staged by choreographer Kristel Koehler, and vocally, in several pretty duets ("Metaphor" and "They Were You"). In a cast notable for its strong vocal work, theirs is especially so. Darren C. Buckels brings the right theatricality and panache to the swashbuckling El Gallo, yet also a subtle self- deprecation and a surprisingly tender heart. Vocally, his powerful, well-modulated baritone bolsters a score that lives mostly in the higher registers. Lisa C. Zaradich and Tom Zaradich are aptly befuddled as, respectively, Matt's mother, Hucklebee, and Luisa's dad, Bellomy. Both roles are scripted as men, but Lisa Zaradich adds dashes of fire to Matt's blustering mom, making the gender change seem natural. The same can be said for the use of Alex Bueno as Mortimer, one of El Gallo's two bumbling actor buddies. Bueno excels in the role, heavy on pantomime and physical comedy, playing an actor who specializes in playing scenes exaggerating his own death - a role normally played by a male. As second flummoxed actor Henry, Ventura Alvarez parodies every classically trained thespian who fails to retire once his mastery of his craft has begun to desert him. The grace note of this staging is the use of Thea Johnson
as The Mute. The character tells us that "The Fantasticks" is
about how the illusion of theater can be a metaphor for life. Small and
grave, with her sad face painted white, Johnson reminds us that, though
lighthearted moments may exist, life is still a pretty serious business.
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