[NEohioPAL] Berko review: THE FANTASTICS (Ensemble)

[Roy Berko]

‘FANTASTICS’ pleases at Ensemble, but is that its
total purpose?

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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--coolcleveland.com--


‘THE FANTASTICKS,’ which is now being staged at
Ensemble Theatre has the honor of being the longest
running in musical theatre history.  It opened
off-Broadway in 1960 and ran until 2002, 17,162
performances.   Not bad for a show that opened to
generally blah reviews.  Its investors received a
19,465% return on their original $16,500 investment. 

Written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the show
features such classics as "Try to Remember," “They
Were You,” and "Soon It's Gonna Rain." 

The show is normally observed as a coming-of-age story
featuring a starry-eyed teen female (Luisa) whose view
of life has been honed by reading romance and
swashbuckling novels and her equally naïve but
self-proclaimed “worldly” boyfriend (Matt) who
believes his college experiences have taught him all
there is to know.  Throw in two matchmaking fathers
who scheme to get their children together, a suave
rogue (El Gallo), a has-been Shakespearean actor and
his “Indian” sidekick, a mute who plays a wall, and a
prop person, and the play appears to be a slight bit
of fluff, whose purpose is solely to delight
audiences.  Well, ‘taint so!

Yes, the first act is fluff
delightful fluff.  And, in
the Ensemble production, that segment, under the adept
direction of Pierre-Jacques Brault, is delightful. 
Brault leaves out no shtick in order to please the
audience.  

The second act, however, is a totally different
matter.  As reality of love and life set in, the
girl’s fantasies are challenged.  The disillusioned
boy goes out to find the “real” world.  The fathers
argue.  The question arises:  as we each go round and
round in the world, what is reality?  Can we cover our
eyes and escape from the truth of life simply by
putting on a mask?

It is in the second act that the Ensemble production
stumbles.  When El Gallo, the mature worldly-wise
schwashbuckler, assumes the role of mentor and takes
Luisa out of her walled-in world to see the real
world, with all its faults, we need to truly gain an
understanding of Schmidt and Jones’s existential
message.  The effect of the show basically centers on
the staging and musical interpretation of  the song
“Round and Round.”  We must see Matt, who has gone on
his adventure, stumble and fall and come to a
realization of life as it really is.  We must share
with Luisa her angst of not being totally able to put
on her mask to hide the realities of existence
.wars,
famine, torture, cruelty.    

In this production, the staging of “Round and Round”
is one dimensional.  Matt hangs as the Christ figure
on the cross, never acting out the illusions of the
song.  The vocal and visual interpretation fail to
stress the meaning of the words.  The music fails to
build to climax, thus avoiding the heightening of the
needed tension.   We never see Luisa gain awareness.

As the young lovers, Paul Rawlings (Matt) and Emma
Ruck (Luisa) are basically charming.  Rawlings often
swallows the endings of words when he sings in the
lower registers and Ruck sometimes gets a little
shrill, but, in general, they both do a nice job. 
(BTW
at one point in the show’s long run off-Broadway,
local actor and BW graduate Rex Nockingust played
Matt.)

Mark Cipra (the boy’s father) acts well, but his voice
is a shallow.  Dan Call has strong vocal qualities,
but sometimes forgets that he needs to blend, not
dominate in duets.  

The star of the show is George Roth as the Old Actor. 
He glows, dominating the stage in every entrance.  His
performance is luminous.  He is ably supported by
Dustin Jesberger as the non-Indian Indian who
specializes in dying.    Jon Gellott does everything
he needs to do as the Mute.

Unfortunately, though he tries hard, Joe Monaghan is
miscast as El Gallo.  He needs to be suave, sensual
and have worldly maturity.  Monaghan just doesn’t
control the stage as, for example, Jerry Orbach did in
the original production.  He also doesn’t have the
vocal chops to belt out “Round and Round” and to
create emotional illusions in “Try to Remember.”

I understand that Brault’s original concept for the
show was to cast two males in the leading romantic
roles.  The idea was, I’ve been told, vetoed.  Too
bad, it would have been appropriate to the theme of
the play, to see their “real” world through the eyes
of gay lovers.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   Ensemble’s ‘THE FANTASTICKS’
should delight most audience members.  However, if
they are interested in gaining the message of the
Schmidt and Jones musical, they won’t get it from this
production.

‘THE FANTASTICKS’ continues through March 23 at
Ensemble Theatre, which is staging its plays at the
Cleveland Play House.  For information call
216-321-2930.


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


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