Sixty Years of Fantasticks

Stephen Guggenheim as El Gallo, Rick Haffner as The Man Who Dies, Stewart
Slater as The Old Actor and Isai Centeno as The Mute. By C Noto Photography.

The Fantasticks
Guggenheim Entertainment
Feb. 1, 2020

The theatrical wonder that is The Fantasticks (book by Tom Jones, music by Harvey Schmidt) is celebrating sixty years, and the folks at 3Below Theatres have jumped on the party wagon with an enchanting, well-voiced production under director Scott Evan Guggenheim.

It takes a little while to fully get on board with the show, which attaches to a certain mid-century world view where mainstream America was rediscovering fabular, elemental storymaking and folk traditions. Once you get to the second act, however, the depth of the allegory (based on Edmond Rostand's Les Romanesques) pulls you in.



Annie Hunt as Luisa

The Guggenheim cast couldn't be a better fit. Playing the idealized lovers Luisa and Matt are Annie Hunt and Jackson Glenn, both of them bright and beautiful people on their own. Hunt has a particular knack for capturing that self-fascination of the Blossoming Girl. Glenn is quite good at portraying those moments when the maturing male realizes that love is not enough.

Stephen Guggenheim lends a masterful presence to El Gallo, who is a combination of the devil, God, and an out-of-work actor. He is also the grand puppeteer, orchestrating the presentation of the story (an interesting resemblance to his Fellini character in "9"). Where the young couple both offer bright musical-theater tonalities, Guggenheim presents a voice that's been lived in, the resonance of experience. He is at his best in "I Can See It," pulling Matt's puppet strings as he prepares him for the big, bad world.

As the girl's father, Bellomy, and the boy's mother, Hucklebee, Jackson Davis and Krista Wigle are so natural it seems like they just wandered in off the street. The two of them present the closest the play has to a normal plot device, pretending a neighborly feud in order to trick their progeny into marrying each other. Their parental lament, "Plant a Radish," is a continual delight.

At the fringes of the story are a couple of goofball extras, The Old Actor (Henry) and The Man Who Dies (Mortimer). It's a pleasure to see Stewart Slater playing the former. Slater means a lot to the South Bay arts scene, having headed up American Musical Theater of San Jose, and it's fun to see him on the other side of the lights. Playing Mortimer is Rick Haffner, who worked at Sunnyvale's California Theater Center for 25 years. Haffner inspires laughter with each entrance, and displays an absolute commitment to his slapstick. (He also dies superbly.) Ironically, it's these comedians who represent the "slings and arrows" that torture poor Matt, yelling for help as the real world chews him up. On his return to Luisa, he sings the show's most touching piece, "They Were You," a realization that he really was in love with her.

The accompaniment comes from Tom Tomasello on piano and Ruthanne Martinez on harp. The combination gives the performance an intimate, enchanted feel that matches its fable-like construct.

It could be that The Fantasticks' incredible longevity comes not from its plot or its hit song, "Try to Remember," but from its riddle-like nature. One leaves the theater buzzing with questions, and awakens the next day with indelible images. You can't ask for much more.

Through Feb. 23, 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second Street, San Jose. 3belowthaters.com, 408/404-7711.

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 22 novels, including the opera novel Gabriella's Voice, currently available for free download at amazon.