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'The Fantasticks’ is a delightful fairy tale
By JERI SEELY
Editor
The Paper
“It is a beautiful fairy tale about first love, lost love and most importantly, true love. Love can be exciting, wonderful, intriguing, frightening, complicated, messy, hurtful, frustrating and also greatly worth it, once it is earned,” says director Brett Egan Schrier of “The Fantasticks,” now on stage at Amish Acres Round Barn Theatre in Nappanee.
Many Round Barn favorites are back for the new season, as well as
a few newcomers. Joe Ford is the Narrator (El Gallo) and does a fantastic
job of leading the audience through this sometimes simple, sometimes
complicated plot. He is spotlighted in the song, “Try to Remember,” a
song many leave the theatre humming.
Ford and the cast are assisted by The Mute (Lance Mullins) throughout the production. Mullins is a NorthWood graduate and does a super job as he furnishes prop after prop, gleaned from a huge trunk at the edge of the stage, without uttering a sound.
The plot is a simple one that gets deeper as the musical progresses. Boy (Michael Wolter) likes girl. Girl (Trisha Hart Ditsworth) likes boy. Their fathers (Matthew C. Scott and Jeremy Littlejohn), however, have put up a fence so the boy and girl have to work hard to see each other. It’s all a ploy because the dads really want their children to fall in love and marry.
Scott and Littlejohn are Amish Acres favorites and use their considerable
skills to thrill the audience. Who doesn’t love a father who
is trying to do what’s best for his son? His daughter? “Never
Say No,” “It Depends on What You Pay” and “Plant
a Radish,” are sung to perfection and the duo even adds a dance
step or two to the delight of the audience. As fathers, they agree
that to manipulate your children, you say “no.”
Both Wolter and Ditsworth are new this year to the Round Barn stage but if their performances in “The Fantasticks” is any indication, they will be quick to win the hearts of theatregoers. They make the perfect couple and their voices blend to perfection on songs like “Metaphor,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and “They Were You.”
The dads hire El Gallo to kidnap the girl, Luisa, but to allow the boy, Matt, to rescue her. Enter the Old Actor (Don Hart) and Mortimer (Sam Brown). Hart turns in a super performance as he directs Mortimer, an Indian who is not an Indian, through his death scenes … apparently, and the audience is left to draw its own conclusion on this one, when the Old Actor was on the stage Mortimer was “the man who dies.” Brown provides a lot of laughs as he first is “the man who dies,” and later follows the Old Actor’s instructions to the letter no matter what he’s told to do. His expressions are priceless as he goes from happy to sad depending on what he is told to do. In my humble opinion, his death scene is worth the price of the ticket.
Once Matt rescues Luisa the couple are free to show their love for
each other. But, wait, it’s time for twists and turns to begin
thickening the plot. The young lovers find out what happened. They
are not happy with what they consider an arranged marriage. Matt leaves.
Luisa is unhappy and spends her days sitting in the garden until El
Gallo tricks her into thinking that she is the one for him, even managing
to steal the necklace her mother left her. The fathers are at a loss
as to what they can do to solve the problem. Confusion reins until
Matt returns to reclaim his true love.
To see this longest running musical in Broadway history call (800) 800-4942, ext. 2 or online AmishAcres.com for tickets.
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