Florence Little Theater puts on “The Fantasticks”

“The Fantasticks”

I went to see “The Fantasticks” last night at the Florence Little Theater. The Fantasticks is a story about two fathers that want their children to get married. In their infinite wisdom, they decide the best way to force them together is by forcing them apart. They construct a wall between their two gardens and the young lovers begin communicating over the wall. The fathers realize they have to bring an end to the wall so the lovers will feel that they can marry. They hire a bandit, El Gallo, to orchestrate an abduction of the girl so that the boy can rescue her. Of course, the young lovers ultimately find out this plan and are furious. The boy, Matt, goes off to find his destiny in the city and the girl, Luisa, decides to be with El Gallo. The boy comes home after realizing it is a cold, hard world out there and finds a heartbroken Luisa after El Gallo (the cad!) breaks her heart. While this play is in some regards a fanciful tale, it brings to bear many very real life lessons.

I should have read a more thorough synopsis of the show before I went. I went into this play expecting a big bang musical, and that really isn’t what it is all about. This particular play is especially well suited for smaller theaters because of its minimal set design. It takes some imagination to envision exactly what the writer wants you to see. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of big-bang performances but not in the sense of lots of design, costuming, and orchestra. Instead it is a simple set, a piano and a harp, and the actors. The wall is actually symbolic and is played by the Mute (who can communicate more with his eyebrows and facial expressions than most big name actors). The big bang performance comes straight from the actors– who have no props to hide behind and no glitz or glamor other than their marvelous acting skills and singing.

The main characters are El Gallo (Matthew Jeffords), Luisa (Kimi Simon), Matt (Courtney Dease), Hucklebee (Dwight Lindley), Bellomy (Chuck Bender), Henry (Donnie Zarrella), Mortimer (Dan Albernathy) and The Mute/Wall (Ben Hankinson).

I last saw Matthew Jeffords in “The Producers” where he pranced in a lovely lavender suit. His character in this play is the absolute antithesis of that role. He is “El Gallo”, the dark bandit that breaks Luisa’s heart in the end. His singing, his acting, his raising of the eyebrows… are fabulous. Honestly, watching Matthew Jeffords perform makes me think I need to switch to the Lutheran Church where he is a preacher. He pretty much made the show for me, and Scarlett Knight should be commended for excellent casting of this role. Simons and Dease are perfectly adorable and they both have large futures ahead of them.

This is a testosterone heavy cast, and all of the men were delightful. (Side note to Kimi Simons: Congrats on holding your own with all those guys!) The dynamic between Hucklebee and Bellomy was so believable that I truly think that Chuck Bender and Dwight Lindley are two old curmudgeons fighting over their gardens and meeting for a daily game of poker. Guys, feel free to bring me some fresh veggies and flowers! Mortimer and Henry were delightful. They play two of El Gallo’s actors and will literally make you laugh out loud.

As a practical note, the Little Theater was too bright for my tastes. I like a darker theater so I can really lose myself in the play. I will attest that I have NO knowledge of these things and that may not even be possible, but it just kept occurring to me throughout the play that I wanted them to turn the lights down.

All in all, I enjoyed the play. I made a commitment that I am going to attend as many plays as I possibly can this year*, and I am so happy the Theater keeps making that an easy commitment to keep.

(I recognize that I use too many parenthesis to convey my thoughts, but next time I will try to go sooner so that I can give you an earlier review.) (Speaking of which… Next time is “Don’t Cry For Me Margaret Mitchell” and I am expecting wonderful things! That runs 2/25/10-3/6/10.)

*(I KNOW that I said every play, but stuff happened… and you know…I missed one. Shhh.)