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"http://www.stamfordplus.com/stm/information/nws1/publish/News_1/index.shtml - News</head> : Entertainment Published: Jul 18, 2008 - 2:02:24 AM


The Town Players bring the magic of talent, a bare stage, lights and music

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The Town Players bring the magic of talent, a bare stage, lights and music
P. J. Morello of Old Greenwich, Terry Le Bel of Shelton and Ed Donahue of Bridgeport playing, respectively, Henry, the Old Actor, the Mute, and Mortimer, the Man Who Dies
“Magic can be done with boxes, a bare stage, and a multigenerational cast,” says Michael Day, director of the Town Players of New Canaan’s summer show “The Fantasticks,” which opens Friday, July 25th. He calls his cast “a creative breeze, so talented and easy to talk with and direct.” Music director Stan Wietryzchowski, who has also done the show at Westport Upstage, the Downtown Cabaret Theater, and the Rich Forum, believes, “The Fantasticks score is universal music that seems to be appealing on every level. Created in the late 50s at a time when a lot of interesting combinations of music were being done, such as experimental classical and jazz in smaller groups, it’s not boring. The composer took risks with dissonance and it works.” The public has agreed. Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt put “The Fantasticks” together in just three short weeks during the summer of 1959. It has become the longest running musical in theatre history and has been performed in over 5,000 American cities and fifty countries.

“The Fantasticks” will be performed at the Powerhouse Theatre in Waveny Park on Friday and Saturday, July 25, 26, August 1, 2, 8 & 9 at 8:00 PM with Sunday matinees on July 27 and August 3 at 2:30 PM. The Town Players are also accepting donations to the New Canaan Food Bank before each performance and will deliver them on the Monday morning following each weekend’s performances. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors (62 and older). To reserve seats please call (203) 966-7371, or visit www.tpnc.org.

Mr. Day loves most two things about the show: its simplicity and that it’s a love story. “Life gets complex and burdensome,” he opines. “Love, not time, heals all wounds. This show is not Disneyland; in a real way you are going to have struggles and take bumps and bruises. But if you hold steady, that’s the depth of life.” He admires the musical’s rich traditions, woven in the theatrical and literary styles of Greek tragedy, commedia dell’arte, and Rostand’s “Les Romanesques,” which was first translated into English as “The Fantasticks” for a British panto performance in 1909.

Mr. Day’s background in dance, musical theatre and movement is well suited to “The Fantasticks,” which requires staging that allows music, dialogue and dance to flow seamlessly and quickly from one mood to another. A Clarion University theatre major, he played leading roles in dramas. After one year in summer stock at West Chester University, he moved to Boston, studied the Horton technique of modern dance with the legendary dancers Danny Sloan and Talley Beatty and performed with various dance companies. He played Larry, the dance captain, in “A Chorus Line,” and remained with the show for three years, a year-and-a-half on Broadway and then on the international tour with the original cast that performed in thirteen countries. Burned out, he moved to Hawaii, learned yoga, and stayed for four years, directing five-year old kindergarten kids through university shows. Upon his return to the mainland, Mr. Day taught yoga and movement at SUNY Purchase’s Actors’ Conservatory program for seven years.

The Town Players bring the magic of talent, a bare stage, lights and music
Seated are George Baker and Bill McGaughey, who play the fathers Bellomy and Hucklebee. Kneeling between them is Don Martocchio, as El Gallo. Standing are P. J. Morello and Ed Donahue who take the roles of Henry, the Old Actor, and Mortimer, the Man Who Dies. Atop the ladder are Liz Sharpe, who plays Luisa, Terry Le Bel, who appears as the Mute, and Matt Lai who plays Matt.
Some people consider “The Fantasticks” a light hearted spoof on “Romeo and Juliet” because two fathers who are next door neighbors and friends conspire to have their children marry by forbidding them to do so. The play has eight characters and many musical numbers. Mr. Wietrzychowski will be the pianist for all performances and Grace Cloutier and Ali Blake will be the harpists. In the New Canaan production Don Martocchio will take the role of the narrator, El Gallo. He opens the show with the dreamy and reflective “Try To Remember.” In the lusty, flamenco “It Depends Upon What You Pay,” he and the fathers Bellomy and Hucklebee, played by George Baker and Bill McGaughey, arrange for a fake rape that will endear the boy, Matt, to the girl, Luisa, because he saves her. In Act II El Gallo introduces the boy to beauty, honor, glory and sorrow, and they sing “I Can See It.” In “’Round and Round,” El Gallo imposes rose colored glasses on Luisa and subjects Matt to a life of despair, as out of control, dissident carousel music fills the stage. In the show, Luisa, played by Liz Sharpe, follows a road that traverses from innocent to matured love. Her first solo is the rapturous yearning of a sixteen year old girl in “Much More.” She is joined later by Matt, played by Matt Lai, in “Metaphor,” better known as “You are love, I am love, better far than a metaphor can ever ever be.” Together they also sing under a lover’s moon, a young lover’s dream, ”Soon It’s Gonna Rain, we’ll live and love within our own four walls.” As the second act opens, Luisa, Matt and their fathers sing, “This Plum is Too Ripe,” a syncopated quartet of touchy anger as things start going awry. When their life of raising children takes on puzzling aspects, the fathers sing “Plant A Radish,” a delightful soft shoe number that lauds the predictability of raising vegetables. In “Beyond That Road,” El Gallo teaches Matt the life lessons he returns home to Luisa knowing. Near the show’s end, Matt and Luisa sing “They Were You,” a lyric love song in waltz time.

Appearing as Henry, the old actor, and Mortimer his sidekick of forty years, will be P. J. Morello and Ed Donahue. They portray the has been players who aide El Gallo in his machinations and who revel in extravagant, theatrical gesture, flowery speech, and comic movement. Having a role where one does not sing or say a single word may seem odd, but for Terry Le Bel, as the Mute, it means handing actors their props, hanging and taking down silk drops, moving furniture, and whenever she is the wall, going up and down a tall ladder. This very quiet mute keeps a very happy musical moving along.

Light designer Jeffrey Klein is the creator of the ever changing nuance and drama of dreamy to phantasmagoric, fight scene to romance, and Sheila Toner is running the busy light board. Steve Gravereaux, Patrick Kiley, Tim Cronin, and Sheri Dean constructed the set, a simple platform with plumber’s pipes verticals and horizontals, while Cathy Townsend helped sew the silk drops and flames. Deborah Shields has created the colorful costumes. Cheryl Petrone is doing make up while Marge Foster helped on props. Producers Sheri Dean and Lynne Bolton are doubling up with other responsibilities. Sheri is stage manager and Lynne is handling front of house chores.




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