Steadstyle Chicago
	September 2009 Theatre Review by Alan Bresloff
	The Fantasticks Let me preface what I am about to report with my feelings about "The Fantasticks", the longest running musical ever, written by author and lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt by saying I adore this lovely show, a simple little musical that is about love, the simplicity and complexity of it.  I also love the work of Porchlight Theatre now celebrating 15 years of bringing us special productions.  This being said, I was surprised at what I saw at The Theatre Building Chicago today, as there were a few flaws that I am not used to with this theater company.  First of all, I was surprised in the casting as I found Jeff Parker a little weak in the role of the Narrator, El Gallo.  The words that he has been given are quite poetic and his delivery did not come close to meeting the sentiment of what Jones wrote.  While his appearance was fine, his dancing okay, his handling of the poetic lines and some of the songs just were not as strong as I have heard in previous productions.  Some of this might be the cause of the direction by Sean Kelly and some of it his interpretation, but this character needs to have great charisma and sex appeal and he just didn't get there.  We are almost seeing the same character he played in last year's "Nine, the Musical" and this character is 180 degrees different. Sean Effinger-Dean as Matt the young boy almost captures the quality of what Jones and Schmidt were writing about.  His voice, by the way is outstanding as he handles "Metaphor," "Soon Its Gonna Rain" and "They Were You" to perfection.  Luisa, the young girl is played deliciously by Emma Rosenthal, who truly understands what the play is all about and handles her songs with all the heart and soul that one can ask for in a love story like this.  For those not familiar with the story (which I would find puzzling) this is the story of a boy and girl who live next door to each other, and have fallen in love.  Their fathers (Dan Ferretti as The Boy's father and Ryan Lanning as hers) have built a wall between their homes in order to ensure that the two are kept apart so that they will get together.  They sing a marvelous duet "Never Say No" which reflects the idea that if they say not to see each other, they will surely do so, and it does work. They do not know the effectiveness of what they have done, so they hire an outsider, Ell Gallo to abduct Luisa and allow Matt to rescue her, be her hero and they will live happily ever after.  The abduction, which is called "the Rape" is performed with actors, Henry (William F. Raffeld), an old actor and his traveling companion Mortimer (played by the rubbery faced character actor Rus Rainear, who manages to steal every scene he is in), an English/Indian who is famous for his dying scenes, a show stopper.  Act One ends with happiness as everything works out just right.  However, that was all in the "moonlight" when romance is at its height.  Then comes the day and the sun (this is act two) when all true feelings and emotions come out.  Matt takes to the road to see what waits for him.  Luisa, falls for her abductor El Gallo, but is betrayed by him as Matt comes back, disenchanted about what the world outside of their town holds in store.  They realize that what they had was as close to perfection as one can hope for and end up happily ever after. The other actor in this production is the Mute played by Tanya McBride.  In most productions, this character is played by a man and often they are more of a mime as they bring in props, hang the Moon and the Sun, build the wall and dance about in some of the numbers.  Ms. McBride handles this key role quite well and holds her poses quite skillfully.  "The Fantasticks" is a small play that was Off Broadway for years and years and the music is very special.  "Try To Remember" is the opener and closer.  Here, under the musical direction of Eugene Dizon, two musicians bring this wonderful score to life, Tom Clear on the piano and Jennifer Ruggieri on the harp.  They are magical with this beautiful score.  There was one time during "Soon its Going to Rain" that director Kelly opted to have Matt (Effinger-Dean) move to the keyboards for part of the song.  I found this confusing as it broke the emotion of the scene and impaired the vision of a part of the audience, who now could not see the love that was growing between these two parties.  Perhaps, this will be changed.  I hope so. This is as I said earlier a very simple play, written at first when the writers were in college and later expanded, and so there is no real set or costuming and the choreography by Andrew Waters was ample enough.  There were a few lighting glitches, but I love "The Fantasticks" and even with the weaknesses that I have talked about, this is always a fun show.  This production may improve as the weeks go on and perhaps Artistic Director L. Walter Stearns will add some input.  I would have loved to see how he would have created the final picture. "The Fantasticks" will continue through November 15, 2009 at The Theatre Building Chicago located at 1225 West Belmont.  Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.  The running time is about two hours including intermission.  Tickets are $37.00 and are available at the box office, by phone at 773-327-5252 or online at www.Ticketmaster.com.   About Alan Bresloff Alan Bresloff, once an actor himself, has been covering the Chicago Theater Scene since 1993, first as the Theater and Arts critic for LaRaza newspaper, then with Salsachicago.com and then onto Extra Newspaper and The Epoch Times.  He also writes for ElImparcial and TeleGuia.  His reviews can also be seen on www.theatreinchicago.com.  Alan does not call himself a "critic" but a "reviewer" as he tries to educate the reader about theater itself, what is a good value, what to look for in a play or musical and more.  "Exposure to theater is a very important part of a young person's life" he says. "Learning about the arts and culture is in fact learning about life" and he tries to explain more in his reviews than just if it is good or bad.  Even some of the poor productions have some value, he often says and he would love your feedback on shows that you have seen.  You can write him here or at albresloff@sbcglobal.net.