Through Sun 5/29
Cheers for Great Lakes Theater’s The Fantasticks! If there’s a more perfect musical to celebrate spring, I can’t think what it might be. Director Victoria Bussert and the excellent cast and crew bring out all the little and large musical and story delights that make Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s 1960 classic musical still beloved, still performed and still eternally fresh.
It’s a gossamer light love story about two charming neighbors, their fathers and the rest of the world that skips the tragedy of other young love stories that end fatally (i.e. Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, etc. etc. etc.). There’s no sugar-coating that passion can be tricky, but there’s nothing that would shock six-year-olds either — in fact, they might enjoy it (in other words, it’s a safe show for all ages).
As the show opens, the dashing El Gallo (the athletic and actually quite dashing himself Michael Padgett) sings “Try to Remember,” a nostalgic piece that speaks to youth eager to get into love entanglements, as well as to their elders who may enjoy sighing a bit about their own choices and loves lost and present.
The lovers, Matt (a handsome and earnest Pedar Benson Bate) and Luisa (a gracefully sunny Clare Howes Eisentrout), live next door so, of course, they fall in love. Their fathers, Hucklebee (Lynn Robert Berg) and Bellomy (Justin Ness), secretly scheme to create a property-joining match. That their plans should backfire is, of course, a staple in light comedies, but Berg and Ness continuously entertain us as they mistakenly attempt to “fix” the young folks up and discover there’s work to be done on themselves as well.
The world’s trials are shown through interactions with El Gallo plus senior traveling actor Henry (the incomparable and comic Aled Davies) and his sidekick, the hapless Mortimer (a delightfully inept Jeffrey C. Hawkins, who excels in physical comedy). There’s also a non-speaking character billed as “Mute” (the nimble Meredith Lark) who sets up scenes and literally hangs the moon (or sun, depending on the story’s needs).
All this merriment and movement flows without a hitch onstage thanks to musical director Matthew Webb and Sara Smith, both pianists, who capably handle musical duties unseen. If you didn’t see only two names on the program you’d be tempted to think there were at least four others also accompanying the vocalists and dancers. Choreographer Gregory Daniels, scenic designer Gage Williams, costume designer Esther M. Haberlen, lighting designer Mary Jo Dondlinger and sound designer David Gotwald together turn the simple setting into whatever the story demanded at the moment — be it a prison scene, a dance or a kidnapping.
This charming, sweet confection with just a dash of bitter chocolate continues until Sun 5/29 at the Hanna Theatre. For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to greatlakestheater.org.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
[Photo by Roger Mastroianni]
Cleveland, OH 44115