This quirky little show has impressively made it into the record books as
America's longest running musical of all time, so the revamped production has had a lot to live up to in its new home at the Duchess Theatre. Itchy was understandably apprehensive and intrigued to discover what Japanese director Amon Miyamoto had done with it, but found an
enchanting, timeless story performed by a truly talented cast that kept us entertained from beginning to end.
The Fantasticks is simply adults trying to
get one over on their teenagers by using reverse psychology. Fools. Two fathers stage a feud and build a wall between their properties in order to encourage their children to fall in love. Obviously the plot gets
horribly complicated and many of the characters get caught in the tangled web of lies spun by the well-meaning grown-ups.
The beautiful score has been gorgeously re-orchestrated for this production and includes plenty of melodies that will
get stuck in your head for days to follow. The simple but extremely versatile staging had plenty to reveal thanks to some rather magical boxes, which somehow covered the roles of scenery, prop storage and even trapdoors. Add in a bit of clever lighting and some glittery rain and the staging gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Glittery rain is most definitely our favourite kind of rain.
Hadley Fraser's ”El Gallo“ (the narrator and bandit) is
superb and, dare we say it, rather sexy, with a gorgeous voice and great air of improvised nonchalance to the story telling. Our inadvertently star-crossed lovers Matt and Luisa blend nicely, but the portrayal of the two fathers would best be described as
slapstick with homosexual undertones. While entertaining, it was a little over the top for our liking.
The true star of the show though is Edward Petherbridge in the role of The Old Actor; his depiction of the fragile OAP desperately clinging on to his glory days despite
having lost most of his marbles is hilarious and extremely endearing, making us want to take him home, put him in an armchair with a cup of Horlicks, and
adopt him as our surrogate grandfather. We'd also like to give a special mention to Carl Au, a demonstrably talented dancer who is rather wasted as The Mute, providing props and glitter at the appropriate times.
Sadly, The Fantasticks has not been met with particularly high praise. By which we mean
it's been slated. It is claiming the role of the Marmite of musical theatre. This show requires you to suspend your disbelief and use your imagination, something
Itchy will do at the drop of an overture, but is clearly beyond many of the hardened, cynical theatre critics out there. Their loss. While Marmite doesn't do it for us, The Fantasticks certainly does.
The Fantasticks is at the Duchess Theatre until 4th September (hopefully)
www.thefantasticks.co.uk
