THE STORY OF ONE BOY AND ONE GIRL ?The Fantasticks? cast takes a break from rehearsing to pose for a group picture. Photo by Ashley Oden by ASHLEY ODEN Staff writer Like a good dinner recipe, popular plays often have similar ingredients. ?The Fantasticks,? a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, is no different. By throwing one boy and one girl together, the plot thickens with a budding romance. The boy, Matt, and the girl, Luisa, live next to each other and there?s a wall between them built by their fathers to ensure that they do fall in love. After all, don?t teenagers ?always? do what their parents forbid? The show?s original off-Broadway production ran for 17,162 performances, becoming the world?s longest-running musical. Act One opens in a small town. Matt and Luisa fall in love but keep their romance secret from their feuding fathers, known simply as Hucklebee and Bellomy. Later, it?s revealed that the ?feud? isn?t real but is actually a way to bring the children together by making them believe their love is forbidden. Seeking to end the charade once and for all, the fathers hire the services of a rogue named El Gallo and his sidekick to stage Luisa?s abduction so that Matt can rescue her and win the approval of the girl?s father. The plan is successful, and the two families reconcile their pretend differences. Act Two, when love is no longer fresh or prohibited, the young couple faces conflict and the fathers begin arguing for real. With the ?honeymoon phase? over and real-life problems rising, can Matt and Luisa?s love survive? People will have to attend the show to find out, encouraged Lee Harwell, director. Harwell?s first exposure to ?The Fantasticks? was at the age of 19. ?I was cast as Matt in an Army production of the show at The Centurion Playhouse at Fort Lewis,? he remembered. ?I had no idea at the time how much in love I would fall with the show or how much of my future would be spent on its production. Since then, I?ve performed or directed a total of seven productions of the play and hope that experience translates into an intimate understanding of the script, the music, the characters and the overall audience experience.? ?The Fantasticks? is so popular because people can relate to the script, Harwell said. ?The authors have provided us with strong, endearing characters and the opportunity for real emotion, humor and adventure. The teenagers, Matt and Luisa, could be any young couple in love. The fathers, Hucklebee and Bellomy, could be any parents.? Put simply, ?The Fantasticks? is a love story. ?Matt and Luisa are in love. But, at first, their romance is doomed by their inexperience. They are, perhaps, more in love with the idea of ?being in love? than with one another,? Harwell said. ?And it is not until they have tasted the harshness of the real world that they truly understand the depth of their affection and their importance to one another.? The eight-person cast includes: Ron Graham as El Gallo, Kaitlin MacDougall as Luisa, Braden Torres as Matt, Megan David as the mute, Ric Munhall as Hucklebee, Arie Vlaardingerbroek as Bellomy, David McInnes as Mortimer and Jeanie Murphy as Henrietta. Because Olympic Theatre Arts Center is under construction, performances are being held May 25-28 at the Sequim High School Performing Arts Building. Off-Broadway to OTA
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