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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > October > 18 > Entry
Review: ‘The Fantasticks’
The longest running musical in Off-Broadway history has a little something for everyone.
Lyrical melodies about the promise of young love share the stage with serious themes like the disappointment of growing up. Toss in some meddling parents, swashbuckling swordfights, and a staged abduction scene, and you?ve got a quirky show that has been attracting audiences for fifty years.
To celebrate this milestone anniversary of ‘The Fantasticks,’ written and composed by University of Texas alumni Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, UT’s Department of Theatre and Dance is staging a new production (directed by Rod Caspers).
In ‘The Fantasticks,’ two fathers (played with zany panache by Joey lePage and Zach Ullah) conspire to get their teenage children to fall in love by building a wall between their yards and pretending to be in a feud. To end the feud, they hire a bandit named El Gallo (Dan Sullivan) to stage the abduction of the girl, Luisa, so that the boy, Matt, can heroically save her.
The first act wraps up with happy endings all around, but in the second act, things start to get really interesting, albeit a little dark and surreal.
As Luisa, Haley Hussey has infectious energy as she belts out surprising sentiments such as ‘please don’t let me be normal!’ As Matt, Bryan Ballew is dorky yet endearing. He woos Luisa with absurd lines, as when comparing her to the microscopic insides of a leaf. In fact, the musical’s lyrics are one of the show’s delights. Listen closely and you’ll find out why the fathers think vegetables are better than children.
Though UT’s production is mostly satisfying, the decades old show includes some dated gender and cultural stereotypes that create a few moments of discomfort. And while ‘The Fantasticks’ played in a tiny theater for most of its New York run, here it takes place in a huge space that sometimes seems to dwarf the show’s simplicity.
Still, if you’ve seen ‘The Fantasticks’ before, you’ll likely be pleased by this fiftieth anniversary version. And chances are high that you?ll be humming the tune of the show?s most famous song, ‘Try to Remember’ for hours, perhaps days, after leaving the theatre.
‘The Fantasticks’ continues 8 p.m. October 20-22 and 2 p.m. October 24, B. Iden Payne Theatre, 300 E. 23rd Street. Tickets $15-$20. www.texasperformingarts.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo: Lauren Tarbel
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