The Fantasticks

Without a hurt the heart is hollow.

Mt. San Jacinto College performed The Fantasticks these past two weekends. Written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmitt, it is the longest-running off-Broadway musical (though it’s now on Broadway); this shouldn’t be surprising, as it’s the story of Romeo and Juliet—minus the double suicide.

MSJC’s production was directed by Darren De Priest, who has recently done The Spitfire Grill and Blithe Spirit. In the lead were Carmina Manley (The Tempest), Danny Guererro (The Mystery Plays), and Ashley Henley (Little Women). The two men who had been cast as The Narrator/El Gallo dropped out, so Ms. Henley took on the part just two weeks before opening night.

Louisa and Matt (Manely and Guererro) are neighbors whose parents want them to marry. But because children only do things “the minute that you say no,” their fathers have built a wall and feigned a feud so Louisa and Matt will fall in love. Unfortunately, once married, they’re not as content with each other as they thought they’d be. Consequently, Matt leaves to see the world while Louisa takes up with the rogue El Gallo, and they only reunite when they learn that “without a hurt the heart is hollow.” Among the themes explored are love and pain, reality and illusion.

Though the whole cast had lovely voices, I enjoyed Ms. Henley’s performance the most. The Narrator/El Gallo (oddly enough) is the deepest, or most multi-faceted character in the musical—and Ms. Henley did justice to the part with her charismatic performance. El Gallo was always fresh and captivating. Also funny was Kevin Quam’s version of Mortimer, or The Man Who Dies, as an Indian with a cockney accent. On the other hand, Ms. Manley occasionally felt monotonous—she used the same frilly hand gesture for the length of the play, and Arthur Baum, as Henry, was both unconvincing and hard to understand.

In addition to their singing, the actors danced well, and the fathers were especially funny in their restrained-yet-silly step dancing. Besides the fathers’ numbers in which they sympathize with each other about the contrariness of children, the best choreography showed up in the campy abduction scene.

Costumes, lighting, and set design (from the “Prop Box”) were delightfully minimal and eclectic, with kind of a home-made feel. These choices added to the silliness and allowed Mortimer, at one point, to wear a purple paper pirate hat.

The Fantasticks was definitely one of MSJC’s better performances.