By STEVEN JUPITER
WEST RUTLAND—For fans of musical theater, The Fantasticks holds a special place. As a production, it’s meant to be minimalist, presented almost as a fairy tale, with sparse sets and simplistic props. Book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, it premiered Off-Broadway in 1960 and immediately created a new aesthetic in musical theater. It’s not showy. There are no chorus girls or large dance ensembles. In fact, eight actors can perform the entire thing as intended, as there are only eight parts.
But it’s also a piece that punches well above its weight. What it lacks in extravagance it makes up for in charm, humor, and feeling. And at least one of its songs, the wistful ‘Try to Remember,’ has entered the canon of American standards. The play is so effective that it ran from 1960 until 2002, making it the world’s longest-running musical and the longest uninterrupted theater production of any kind in the United States.
Its simplicity makes it especially attractive for smaller theater companies. The Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theater mounted a lovely production of it at the West Rutland Town Hall Theater over the last two weekends.
The plot isn’t terribly complex: two families live on either side of a recently built stone wall in an unspecified small town. The wall is the result of a fake feud concocted by the fathers as a means to compel their children, Matt and Luisa, to fall in love. Luisa (Molly McGovern) is 16 and a dreamer. With an inborn dramatic bent, she longs for passion and adventure, envisioning herself as a princess. Matt (Shannon Wright), 20, is a college student studying science but also yearning for something magical.
The wall is a clever bit of reverse psychology on the part of the fathers: by telling their children “no,” they create irresistible forbidden fruit. Matt and Luisa meet at the wall every night and declare their love for each other. To bring the fake feud to an end and unite their children, they hire a bandit named El Gallo (Colin Hill) to “abduct” Luisa and allow himself to be “defeated” by Matt, who will thus become a hero and earn the admiration of Luisa’s father (John Lugar) as well as of his own (Michael Eaton). The feud will be called off and the children will live happily ever after.
El Gallo enlists the aid of two itinerant Shakespearean actors, Henry (Alanah Jackie Grant) and Mortimer (Jackson Aubuchon), to pull off the abduction. It all goes according to plan. Matt and Luisa end up together, the feud is ended, the wall is demolished, and the cardboard prop moon that illuminated the abduction scene is replaced by a blazing, merciless sun.
In the light of that sun, however, it becomes clear that, separated by the wall, Matt and Luisa had fallen in love with the fantasy of each other, never having been close enough to see each other as they really are. Matt now sees Luisa as immature. Luisa sees Matt as pretentious. Even the fathers are annoyed with each other, picking at each other’s gardening habits. In a spasm of irritation, Matt’s father reveals that the wall had been a ruse and that the children’s relationship was the result of manipulation. Matt and Luisa are devastated. Luisa loses her joie de vivre and does nothing but sit and daydream. Matt leaves home. The fathers realize that their plan has wounded their children.
El Gallo soon returns and seduces Luisa, leading her through a series of hallucinations in which she sees Matt being abused. El Gallo also convinces her to relinquish a cherished necklace that had belonged to deceased mother. As the bandit starts to abscond, Matt returns in the flesh and tries unsuccessfully to recover the necklace for Luisa. This time, El Gallo handily defeats the boy, leaving him humiliated in front of Luisa.
Both now scarred and battered by their experiences, seeing each other at their lowest, they realize that they did in fact love each other. They reunite, but with eyes wide open.
One of the most striking features of the production is the character of El Gallo, who also acts at times as the Narrator. He’s a bit of a devilish figure and Colin Hill does a fine job conveying his slithery seductiveness. Hill has a rich bass-baritone that put the show’s signature tune (“Try to Remember”) across beautifully.
As Luisa, Molly McGovern was delightful. She embodied all the adolescent drama of a teenaged girl, but with a seasoned singing voice that suited the material perfectly. McGovern was sweet and charming without being cloying.
Relative newcomer Shannon Wright, as Matt, impressed with his vulnerability and a baritone singing voice that just keeps getting better. Wright has been taking advantage of every opportunity to sing locally and his voice is becoming quite strong. For an inexperienced actor, he did a remarkable job with a central role.
Michael Eaton and John Lugar, as the fathers, were the comedic stars of the show. Their witty duets felt a bit like an old Vaudeville act that still had some chops.
Alanah Jackie Grant and Jackson Aubuchon also played their parts for laughs, and rightfully so. Aubuchon was especially funny as “the man who dies,” since his character is an actor who specializes in histrionic death scenes, writhing and flopping on the stage.
In a small and underappreciated role as The Mute, Miriam Lerner was able support the action of the scenes she was in with an impish appeal, even when she was called upon to simply stand and be The Wall.
Directed by Marisa Varent, the production remained essentially faithful to the original, wisely avoiding the pitfalls of overmanipulating a classic.
“I wanted to find a way to stay true but make it special for us,” said Varent during intermission. “Diving into the script was important to me. I wanted to pull what I could from the playwrights.”
The pit band also deserves praise. The music integrated seamlessly into the production, underscoring the emotions of the scenes without overpowering or distracting. On piano, Diane Chartrand. On bass, Cameron Wescott. On percussion, Mark Barrett.
Overall, it was a charming production from a theater company that consistently stages quality shows. And as we slide into September, here’s the opening line from the classic “Try to Remember”:
Try to remember
the kind of September
When life was slow
and oh so mellow…
