‘The Fantasticks’: Not Just Another School Musical

KIMBERLY ONG

Co-Opinions Editor

The scent of bandits, pirates and teen love is in the air! No, Princess Bride 2 is not omitting from a theater near you. It’s AHS’s production of “The Fantasticks!” Reverse psychology, singing and fake deaths are included.

The setting for this production was located in our very own Little Theatre—“little” being the operative word. From a large auditorium with over 800 seats, the cast of “The Fantasticks!” made do with an audience capacity of 120. And yet, despite everything being proportionally smaller in accordance to the audience size, the production established itself as the little play that could.

The Little Theatre proved itself a smart, albeit necessary, move for the AHS Thespians. The small space made microphones unnecessary, thereby reducing the risk of any mechanical mishaps—and thankfully, there were none. However, the intimate setting was rather … too intimate. After about twenty minutes squished up against your neighbors’ elbows and hearing the scattered rustling every other minute in the stuffy enclosed room, it was difficult not to be irritated.

Thankfully, the cast and crew of “The Fantasticks!” saved themselves from a nightly veritable mob of 120—which, I might add, is still a sufficient number to do some considerable damage. The first act was a delight, enough said. The dialogue was clever, the acting convincing and the singing consistent.

The characters portrayed were amusing, especially the supporting ones. Victor Peña, Stephanie Semerenko and Ally Millard were fanatical as Matt and Luisa, as irrational teenagers in love should be, and, accordingly, evoked laughs from the audience. Though, try as they might to amuse us with their awkward teen rebellion, the comical contributions of Arvin Dicioco, Justin Qualls and Sergio Valdez quickly stole the show as the narrator and El Gallo—excuse me, Ga-YO—and the players, Henry and Mortimer.

However, Semerenko, Millard, Peña, Celeste Castañeda (acting as Luisa’s mother) and Georgina Edwards (playing Matt’s mother) made themselves the strength of The Fantasticks’ musical aspects. Individually, they were all decent, if not good, singers. But while they all sung well enough on their own, it seemed as if there were issues with harmonizing.

In light of all the characters, we cannot forget our other actors. Despite the lack of vocal lines, Geraldine Ramos, Victoria Ramos, Mariah Carrasco and Annalisa Gomez brought a certain charm to the stage as mutes. Puppet master, Brenda Chi, and her crew only added to the humor of hilarious situations and made serious scenes more dramatic. The accompanist, Dr. Jeanette-Louise Yaryan, appropriately gave life to all of the scenes, her piano playing being quite an addition to the play. Even the bare-boned nature of the stage props contributed to our enjoyment. Whether it was a water gun used to portray spittle or a box that magically brought props (and people) from nowhere to entertain, no detail failed to amuse.

Unfortunately, the fun and games ended along with the 10 minute intermission. While the arranged feud and subsequent kidnapping seemed to redeem “The Fantasticks!” from the faux pas of just another teen romance within the first act, the succeeding 40 minutes prevented the production from ending on a high note.

Act Two didn’t do much else besides drag on. It lacked all the charm, vitality and wit of the first hour. The fact that the play took a much more serious, more moralizing turn did not bode well for “The Fantasticks!” Instead of giving us the “bigger picture,” the second half only told us what we already knew—cynicism rules in a world of idealistic ignorance.

And yet, despite the dull second act, “The Fantasticks” was quite the crowd-pleaser. A symbolic wall of ignorance was torn down, only to be followed by a wall of disillusionment, which was then torn down to reveal the happy ending. And all within the span of two hours.