'The
Fantasticks' longest running musical revived
By
Safiya Elkhaldy
On-line Forty-Niner
The
California State University music department
continues its five-day run of the famous
musical, "The Fantasticks,"
after its opening show Wednesday night
at the Gerald Daniel Recital Hall.
Known
as the world's longest running musical,
"The Fantasticks," earned this
title after it was performed 17,162 times.
Not bad for originators, Harvey Schmidt
and Tom Jones, who worked on the production
for years before axing it, and starting
from scratch, with the exception of a
few songs.
As
"The Fantasticks" Web site explains,
Schmidt and Jones developed a plot that
spoofs Romeo and Juliet. It achieved this
by having the parents invent a feud to
make their children fall in love.
Dr.
Jonathan Talbert, director of choral,
vocal, and opera studies at CSULB, describes
the musical as a boy-meets-girl love story.
"This
is a boy meets girl, boy and girl have
huge fight, boy leaves to sew wild oats,
and boy comes back more wise, story,"
Talbert said.
The
musical used a wide variety of sources
to give it a modern-day affect. As Schmidt
and Jones explained on their Web site,
this play takes elements from everything.
"I
decided to attempt the whole thing in
verse, to mix open verse with heavy rhyming.
I tried to let people and scenes mix with
couplets as a sort of flourish,"
he said.
EVENT
LISTING
What:
"The Fantasticks"
When: 8 p.m. tonight, Fri. & Sat,
4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Gerald Daniel Recital Hall 1250
Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach CA
For ticket information call: (562) 985-7000.
