Citadel Theatre to stage musical 'The Fantasticks'

It was 60 years ago that the writers of "The Fantasticks" booked the 153-seat Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City's Greenwich Village for what they thought would be a six-week run of their new musical.

It ended up running for 42 years in that same theater. After a hiatus of just four years, "The Fantasticks" moved uptown to the 199-seat Jerry Orbach Theatre in Times Square, where it ran from 2006 to 2017.

The story, based on a play by Edmond Rostand, author of "Cyrano de Bergerac," concerns a young man and woman who fall in love thanks to a cunning plot by their fathers. The two dads believe - correctly as it turns out - that the best way to get the boy and girl interested in each other is to forbid them from ever meeting.

Yet, their eventual meeting and falling in love is not the end of the story. The boy, Matt, wants a life of adventure, while the girl, Luisa, is looking for a hero. Before the musical's end, the two young lovers learn some life lessons and acquire a more realistic view of love.

For their take on this romantic musical, Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest will offer some new twists that will honor the spirit of the original production.

According to play director Pat Murphy, who retired several years ago as director of theater at Glenbrook North High School, "The original production, and most stagings of it since, have played 'The Fantasticks' on a very simple set; just a raised, wooden platform with six poles from which curtains were hung. It was intended to resemble a traveling player's wagon.

"At Citadel, we're going to take that idea and dress it up just a little, with a set that suggests the players are performing in a park on a gazebo, as if it were street theater. It's still meant to look like a traveling production, but we'll be providing a bit more visual context for that idea, allowing for a more colorful design."

While the Citadel Theatre's "Fantasticks" will be somewhat more elaborate than the original production, it will lose none of the original's intimacy, playing in a theater roughly the same size as the musical's original home.

"In fact, it will be even more involving," Murphy said. "The performers will acknowledge and interact with the audience members, making them a part of the story."

"The Fantasticks" is loved for its lyrical score, including the songs "Try to Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain," along with many others. Murphy says his production will honor that beautiful score through a mix of vocal styles, from the lyrical style of the classically trained Brian Hupp in the leading role of El Gallo, to vocals by actor-singers from the musical theater tradition.

And rather than accompanying the singers with just a piano, as is so frequently the case with "The Fantasticks," Citadel's orchestra will include a bass and harp along with the piano.

The music director is Aaron Kaplan, assistant orchestra director at Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South high schools in Northbrook and Glenview, and faculty member at the Music Institute of Chicago. Kaplan was a student of Murphy's at Glenbrook North.

Another connection to the Glenbrook high schools is Glenbrook South graduate Aurora Penepacker, now a sophomore at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, who will play Luisa. Matt will be played by Jonah Cochin, who was seen this past holiday season in Citadel's "Annie."

Also returning from the "Annie" cast are John B. Boss and Bill Chamberlain as the fathers, and John Benischek as Mortimer.

"The Fantasticks" will play through March 8 at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. For more information or tickets, visit www.citadeltheatre.org or call (847) 735-8554, ext. 1.

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