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Show Tfie Tfiumferfcinf Monday March 25, 1985 Page 11 i ? i 3 ! V'-- ifitrifttiiliiiiiriinn "imrinnr tr ffintfriWir Lisa Berger, Michael Stivers and Elizabeth Leisek give it their all in the Masque club production of The Fantasticks. The production, which was directed by R. Troy hunt and played last weekend, was but some of the musical numbers lacked conviction. well-acte- d, Fantasticks funny, but lacks punch Theatre review by Annette Grooms The Thorley Recital Hall was dimly lit with only one curtain that had spotlight pointed toward a hand-mad- e the word Fantasticks on it. This was the setting for the Masque club production, The Fantasticks A girl that looked like a cross between a chimney sweep and a mime came out from behind the curtain. I knew from the program this girl had to have been The The cast of the play included Lisa Berger and Elizabeth Leisek, top row, and Lisa Newhouse and Todd Gibson. Mute, played by Wendy Turner. Mike Stiver, who portrayed El Gallo (a Don Juan type narrator) started to sing Try To Remember to the audience as the lead characters formed a silhouette behind the curtain. Matt, played by Todd Gibson, and Louisa, portrayed by Lisa Newhouse, were the typical voung romantics; he is nearly 20, and she is 16. Their mothers scheme to get Matt and Louisa together romantically by using reverse psychology on them and forbidding them to see each other. Louisa is typically adolescent and philosophizes about things such as, The moon turns red every year at my birthday, until a man sweeps me away. Matt wants to see what the world is like, but he believes that he is in love with the girl next door, whom he hasnt really met. He sings Mystery of Love for her over the wall. They climb the tree, over the wall, and instantly fall in love with each other as they kiss. The mothers see that their plan works, but they know they need a final plan to seal the childrens marriage plans. The mothers call in El Gallo to abduct Louisa so Matt would have to save her. El Gallo hires two actors, Henry Albertson and his sidekick Mortimer, played by Patrick Sterling and Tiya Coleman. Matt saves the fair maiden and it appears they will live happily ever after, but the audience knew better there was an intermission. Matt decides to leave, for awhile, and runs into h absence. problems within his Louisa falls in love with El Gallo for a short time, but he leaves her after promising to take her to see the world. Just as Louisa finds out about El Gallo, Matt comes home to see her. They are all happy at the conclusion of the play. This play was quaint and cute., but it lacked dynamics as far as its musical content is concerned. The comedy was very well done by the actors, especially Sterling and Coleman. Turner, as The Mute, created an interesting contrast, in that she was a character in the play, but was also a member of the audience. Stiver was a great narrator; he also portrayed El Gallo superbly. I believe that everyone in the Masque Club and the music department worked hard on this play, even though, as I said before, it resembled a junior high school production. Maybe they wanted it that way. two-mont- |