It's a 'Fantasticks' finale for Cape Playhouse season + 5 more shows at Cape Cod theaters
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The musical that has been performed more times than any other in the world will close out the first back-in-the-theater season at Cape Playhouse in Dennis. See the story behind "The Fantasticks" below. And here are some other shows opening this week:
Linda Ronstadt show returns for a fundraiser
The cast and musicians of “Silver Threads: A Musical Tribute to Linda Ronstadt,” which has played at two other venues in the past year, will bring the show at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 5 to Barnstable Comedy Club (3171 Main St.) as a benefit for the community theater celebrating its centennial. Proceeds from the $35 tickets and concessions will raise funds for an updated sound system, including body mics for use in the November production of “Rock of Ages.”
Featured performers will be director Sarah Schonning, Sara Bleything and Marcia Wytrwal. Reservations: 508-362-6333. For information and to make additional donations: www.barnstablecomedyclub.org (please specify donation is for sound system).
More Broadway in Provincetown
Broadway-related performances at the Art House (214 Commercial St.) in Provincetown continue with Nicolas King performing a concert of pop, jazz and Broadway music at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3. Ted Firth will accompany on the piano, with Daniel Glass on drums and Steve Doyle on bass.
Labor Day weekend entertainment will also include singer Jessica Vosk, who starred most recently as Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway and made a sold-out Carnegie Hall debut this winter with guest Kristin Chenoweth. Vosk will sing and chat with music director Seth Rudetsky. The show still available will be at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4 as part of the Broadway @ The Art House series. Information and reservations for all: https://provincetownarthouse.com/.
Plays at the Art House, too
Provincetown Dramatic Arts in association with producer Mark Cortale will present “Quickies: 4 Short Plays from Provincetown” at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Sept. 6-21 at the Art House. The four plays are described as “a collection of hard-hitting dramas and heartwarming comedies … (with) four unique perspectives of contemporary LGBTQ+ life in America.”
The collection was recently as an official selection in the 2022 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, where it was a finalist for four awards — including best actor and best play. Tickets: $25 and $35; information and reservations: https://provincetownarthouse.com/. Proof of vaccination and masks are required for entry.
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The plays are “Madame Executrix,” written by Doug Asher-Best (and directed by Margaret Van Sant) about what a woman decides to do with her brother’s possessions after his death; “Look What You Made Me Do,” written and directed by Lynda Sturner, about two women who have a good life but aren’t sure their marriage can survive a pandemic; “The Black Eye,” written and directed by Jim Dalglish about an aging gay man who encounters a dangerous street-wise kid; and “Pulse,” written and directed by Van Sant about a woman trying to figure out her future.
Story of Chile plays on the Vineyard
The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse has returned to full productions on its Patricia Neal Stage at 24 Church St., Vineyard Haven with “Burning Patience,” by Antonio Skármeta running at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays through Sept. 17.
The romantic comedy, directed by Olga Sanchez, is set in early 1970s Isla Negra, Chile — peaceful as political unrest threatens — where young Mario learns about life and love while delivering the mail to renowned poet Pablo Neruda. “Burning Patience” is based on Skármeta’s book “El cartero de Neruda,“ which was made into the Academy Award-winning foreign film, “Il Postino” (1994).
Tickets and information: https://mvplayhouse.org/theater/2022/08/burning-patience/. Rush tickets are available for $25 cash, and Friday performances offer discounted $30 tickets for island year-rounders.
Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
Popular 'Fantasticks' closes Cape Playhouse season
Cape Playhouse in Dennis will cap off its 96th season of summer theater with a Sept. 7-17 production of “The Fantasticks,” one of the best-known and most enduring musicals in theatrical history.
Plans for an extra September show were developed before David Elliott came on board as the new playhouse artistic director, and Elliott, now completing a first season in his new role, says he “fully embraced” the suggestion of “Fantasticks” as that fall choice.
The deceptively simple plot forms around a pair of naïve young lovers, whose fathers conspire to keep them together by pretending to oppose their union. The fathers’ ill-fated plot dashes the couple’s early romantic dream, and their Act One fantasy of scenic moonlight fades. It takes an Act Two under the unforgiving sun to bring the lovers’ journey from adolescence to maturity.
The story, Elliott says, “is about going on a long journey” in order to finally discover that what we wanted was close to home all the time. And perhaps to discover “what is love, if we can conceive of it,” he says. “The show strikes a chord in our hearts – (It’s about) what we all believe life can be.”
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As a theater major in college, Elliott saw the iconic production in 1989 at its longtime home at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City. “I was enchanted,” he recalls. Elliott returned to school inspired and produced a scene from the show for a class.
Fast forward to 2022. After a busy first year, Elliott says he welcomed the short break after the summer’s final August performance, which has allowed him to take on a show director role at the playhouse for the first time with “Fantasticks.” With its “unbelievable score and simple story ... it’s something I’ve wanted to do since 1989,” he says.
Making a few tweaks
Elliott plans to stay true to the form of the 1960 musical that playwright/lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt created, but tweaking a few of the stage effects. His goal, Elliott says, is to make the production just “a little more theatrical (by building in) a few more scenic elements,” and to add some percussion to the piano and harp that provide the show’s iconic orchestration.
“The Fantasticks” holds the record for the world's longest-running musical, as well as having the longest uninterrupted run of a show of any kind in the United States. It broke records of all kinds in the 42 years following its inauspicious beginnings Off-Broadway in 1960. The original production closed at the Sullivan on Jan. 13, 2002, after 17,162 performances, and then saw a revival at the Off-Broadway Snapple Theater Center in 2006, running for a decade longer and adding another 4,390 performances.
For all of its unadorned structure and staging, “The Fantasticks” has shown an extraordinary ability to attract audiences, weathering many transformations in taste that have affected musical theater over the years. The show, says Elliott, arrived just on the cusp of major changes that began in late 1950s musical theater as the Rodgers and Hammerstein era began to wane.
“There’s a ‘beat quality’ (to the show’s music and lyrics) that comes out of the ‘50s,” with its poetry and dissonant jazz sounds, and the musical appealed to a new, younger generation of theatergoers. The script employs “a poetic language,” evoking something Elliott refers to as “magical realism.”
“The Fantasticks” is also an homage to what he calls archetypes that are common to stories told in the theater throughout the ages, with its generically named “Boy” and “Girl” characters, the El Gallo narrator who functions as trickster, and an enigmatic Mute, who is determined to “make it all work out.” All represent story patterns that have long resonated with audiences.
What you’ll see in Dennis
The Cape Playhouse production boasts a unique setting and a cast of eight actors who come with a host of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater credits. Two of its members have performed “The Fantasticks” in the past, and are returning to a new role or revisiting a former character.
William Thomas Evans, who plays the Boy’s father, has a roster of credits in regional and New York productions, including two years Off-Broadway in “Fantasticks.” According to his bio, this is a classic he’s “been involved with for over 30 years,” including performing as the Boy, El Gallo and now the father.
Rebbekah Vega-Romero, as the Girl, says she first performed that role “in a semi-professional production when I was still in high school. It’s really delightful to revisit this role as an adult; I feel like I am able to look at Luisa with new eyes. ... I have a fresh sense of compassion and wonder to bring to this story.”
There will be evening and matinee performances of “The Fantasticks” from Sept. 7-17 at the Cape Playhouse, 820 Main St. (Route 6A), Dennis; https://www.capeplayhouse.com/the-fantasticks/.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theater: 'Fantasticks' is finale at Cape Playhouse and more
