Plant a radish— get a radish! Never any doubt! Plant a musical— end your season— see what it’s about! The Fantasticks comes sweeping into Vagabond Players to close out their 106th season; the strangely forlorn and bittersweet musical about simple love gone wrong when the world gets in the way. Directed by Jimi Kinstle with Musical Direction by Mari Hill, with live on-stage orchestrations by Erica Rome and Stephen Deininger, this one-of-a-kind cobbled-together musical of love, loss, and expectations vs reality, is a classic, of sorts, and well-performed upon the Vagabond Players’ stage.
With a setting of ‘anytime’ and a ‘anyplace’ the musical is a vague ‘everyman’ style show that allows everyone to make their own personal connection to the characters, the setting, and the strangely haunting music that flows from within. Director Jimi Kinstle takes a somewhat more traditional approach, showcasing the ‘garden’— (co-set designing alongside Moe Conn) with faux flowers, greenery, and assorted flora hither and thither. The entirety of the stage— from the front lip to the backwall, which displays the ascending staircase up to the backstage/greenroom area— is completely exposed. There’s a trunk, which gets used both as a hiding place for actors (and the magic, or fissures in the magic, depending on how you want to look at it, is that you can see the actors crawling on their hands and knees behind the trunk to get into it so they can pop up from inside of it.)
Costume Designer Karen Saar lends the traditional guise of El Gallo to said character, with the ‘zorro’ style mask and fancy hat and sash. There’s a very innocent, coquettish blue high-collar, long-sleeved button down dress in Dorothy blue featured on ‘The Girl’ and a more studious, though equally naïve and innocent appearing, ensemble featured on ‘The Boy’. Much like the set, Saar’s costumes speak of a time gone by but could still be present; this falls in line with the general notion of the show being an ‘everyman’ show.
Director Jimi Kinstle doesn’t seem to have a concept, per say, when it comes to executing this production of The Fantasticks. Because of its tabula rasa nature, the production is often subject to the fantastical whims of conceptualization and idealistic lenses through which to experience the tale. Kinstle has shied away from all of that, except in perhaps the more non-traditional casting of the El Gallo/Narrator character as a woman. There is an intentional lackluster and almost jaded approach to both The Narrator and El Gallo under Kinstle’s direction, seemingly making the statement that “it’s all been done before.” (If it’s trying to make some other, bolder, clearer statement, that’s not clear.) The pacing is smart, the performers are articulate, and the show does have beautiful music.
As El Gallo and The Narrator, Kathryn Falcone lends a lovely, smooth sound to the songs— particularly the opening gambit, “Try To Remember”— and brings full narrative quality into songs like “Round and Round”, which spins dizzyingly through ‘the world at large’ about halfway through Act II. Often the El Gallo character is played with a larger-than-life flare and zest with punch and gusto. These elements are notably absent from Falcone’s portrayal of El Gallo, but again this feels deeply intentional under Kinstle’s directorial choices. It reads as jaded. As if El Gallo has done these same actions over and over and over again (a commentary perhaps on the potential monotony of life? Or of happy-ever-after-life?) There are tender moments, particularly between Falcone’s El Gallo and Luisa (Ana Lane) when they are “up in the tree” (the back staircase that leads to the backstage) and exchanging life experiences in a quiet conversation.
Ana Lane has a glorious, soaring soprano voice that melts through numbers like “Much More” and “Soon It’s Going To Rain.” Her vocal style is a perfect match for these songs of showtunes gone by, echoing the raw sentimentality of yesteryore. Lusty, swooping vocal peels of her dreamy soprano sound drift throughout the performance, which is a matching compliment to the character’s utter innocence and blind naïveté. The awkward and adorable connection Lane shares with the Matt (Quentin Patrick) character speaks volumes about the ideas of what ‘true love’ looks like to those without any prior experience. Patrick, as the ingenue boy, brings a solid match both vocally and characteristically to Luisa. His voice takes on haunting qualities for “Beyond That Road” and there are hints of regret and real lessons learned by the time he joins Luisa in the “Metaphor (Reprise)” duet.
Thrown in as plot-pushers and somewhat as comic relief, as some of the chuckles come from their biting antics at one another, The Boy’s Father, Hucklebee (Jim Hart) and The Girl’s Father, Bellomy (Jeff Burch), are a classic throwback to the Vaudeville days, as evidenced in their cake-walk, flash-step dance routines seen during both “Never Say No” and “Plant A Radish.” (Nods to director Jimi Kinstle for these cute choreographic routines.) Hart and Burch are delightfully interchangeable, fussing and nitpicking at one another. They make quite the energetic comic duo.
As do Mortimer (B. Thomas Rinaldi) and Henry (John Sadowsky) better known as The Man Who Dies and The Old Actor. While their roles in the show are perhaps the most superfluous and seemingly most silly, it does give you a rather grim and glum look at the life of actors as we age. (The Henry character even calls out Mortimer for still being an apprentice; both in this production are played by men of seasoned ages.) They have their comic moments, particularly during the “Round and Round” segment where they are the brigands and pirates and baddies popping up and down out of the trunk to showcase the evils of the world. Both Sadowsky and Rinaldi have a good sense of comic timing and are well-suited for these roles.
Serving as hidden characters, though in plain view on the stage are the live musicians— Erica Rome as the pianist and Stephen Deininger as the harpist. (Pretty sure he’s on a second set of keys there too.) Rome and Deininger provide the lively, serene, and haunting music that accompanies the songs during this performance and the way the music just drifts into the scene as if it were a tertiary and supporting character is mesmerizing. They provide flawless tempo changes, immaculate synchronization with the performers as they sing and are overall an exceptional part of the performance.
What’s most fascinating about this production is the non-speaking character of Mute (Ari Juno.) And while The Mute does not speak, they say so very much with their eyes, their body, their expressions, and motions. Juno, whose character is often used as ‘The Wall’ between neighboring children, delivers a great many wonderful movements, including animated facial features and articulated positioning of limbs and torso. It’s a strange thing to describe, but half the time you find yourself sharing the hilarious reactions of Juno’s Mute. Juno’s Mute also seems to be ubiquitous in their stage presence, even when the wall isn’t a wall or they aren’t featured directly on stage; you can always see them. (This is often true of other actors who are seated around the periphery of the play space, but Juno differs because their character seems to still be engaged with all the inner mechanisms of what’s happening in these scenes even when The Mute is not in them.) Juno delivers a remarkable presentation of The Mute; it’s truly astonishing considering they never say a single word.
Try to remember— four months before September— to get your tickets, tickets, tickets— to see The Fantasticks at Vagabond Players and help them close out their 106th season in style.
Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
The Fantasticks plays through June 19, 2022 at Vagabond Players— located in the heart of Fells Point: 806 S. Broadway in Baltimore, MD. For more information on tickets, seating and Covid policies, please call the box office at (410) 563-9135. Tickets are available for purchase in advance online.
