I've seen about 10 live shows now during my Year of Thinking--several commercial Broadway tours, a community theater production, a high school production, and a couple shows at larger non-profit theater companies in Chicago--but I had not seen a show produced by a small company in town, and that is really the richest part of the theater community in Chicago.
Well, I fixed that oversight yesterday by seeing The Fantasticks in a small production by a company associated with an adult learning school. The theater is called the Library Theatre because the performance takes place in the school's library. A square room with bookshelves along the sides of the room, the theater configuration used for this production held about 40 people, there may have 30 at the performance I attended.
Given the scale of the production, it may be easy to think that you'll miss a lot from the physical production and have a second rate cast. Well, I'm pleased to say that neither of those assumptions were true in this production.
This production, as directed by Jason Harrington, cleverly and effectively used the small space, which was basically set up with two seating areas facing one another and the actor's playing area between them--like a tiny basketball court. During the scenes when characters were on opposite sides of the wall between the two families' yards, a fabric fence was erected right down the middle of the playing area. At times the actors stood on boxes so we could see both of them (one over the fence), but often we only saw the actor on our side of the fence, which made the point about the two young lovers being separated. The petite space meant that each actor could easily project their speaking and singing voices without strain and reminded me how wonderful it is to hear a show without electronic amplification.
The depth of actors in the Chicago area must be a boon for small companies like The Library Theatre. For this show, every part was cast with age-appropriate actors who had the skills and charms their roles required. This was particularly true of El Gallo; this is a difficult role that needs a charismatic, accomplished performer. Fortunately, one was available in the person of Jason Bowen who possessed all the swagger and sex-appeal needed for the role. He sang well, too. Everyone sang well, actually. I was particularly taken with the baritone of Kent Joseph as Huckabee, the father of Matt.
I was surprised by the poetry evident in the book of this show and the many literary references--particularly to Shakespeare. How had I missed that before? Probably from being turned off by over-amplified actors.
The Fantasticks
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics and book by Tom Jones
First opened in 1960
This production at the Library Theatre at Feltre has now closed
Cast: Jason Bowen, Trisha Hart Ditsworth, Ian Daniel McLaren, Kent Joseph, Michael A. Gavame, Andey Gwyn, Nathaniel Niemi
No comments:
Post a Comment