REVIEW: Theater

Simply fantastick.

It's easy to see why "The Fantasticks" is the longest running musical in history. Just go see it. This show is deceivingly gentle in delivering a massive sting straight to the heart.

Theater of the Seventh Sister kicked off its 19th season Thursday at its new home in Stahr Performing Arts Center with its lovely production of the little musical that could.

As promised, director Gary Smith stuck to the show's signature simplicity. In dramatic irony, it was that simplicity that nearly sunk this gem before it ever made it to a New York City stage, where, with more dramatic irony, it ran for an unprecedented 42 years straight.

At Stahr, the show still sparkles, capitalizing on actor Forrest McClendon's larger-than-life stage presence. In "The Fantasticks," he steals the show, personifying the sinister Tyranny of Time as the bandit character, El Gallo (think Big Bad Wolf). And McClendon is marvelous, displaying the show's strongest singing voice and oozing a downright frightening charm.

The whole cast, though numbering just eight, makes good on this fable of two fathers using reverse psychology (to treacherous ends) to join their children in holy wedlock.

Smith made good choices in his young lovers, played by more-American-than-apple-pie-and-SUVs Valerie Long and Tommy Strawser. It's as if the two were made for these roles. But though they had lovely singing voices, they were on the quiet side, even from a first-row seat.

Actors Chet Williamson and Rich Barbour also look their paternal parts, and in their duets, they played off each other well.

The comedy side of the cast is Greg Davies and Steve Schwilk as the leftovers of a long-standing Shakespearean troupe, and they are enjoyable.

Rounding out the cast is The Mute, played by Alexis Blythe Wachter. The role is a sort of onstage conscience reminding us this is just a retelling of real life, so take it lightly and take it hard. That's the sort of innovation that sets apart "The Fantasticks" from musicals of its generation, which include "The Sound of Music," "Hello, Dolly!" and "Fiddler on the Roof."

But don't let anyone tell you this is a story about love. "The Fantasticks" simply uses love as a metaphor for life. And there's no shortage of peripheral metaphors: the burn of the sun and the romance of moonlight. And for anyone who lives in the city, another "Fantasticks" metaphor stands way out: "Good fences make good neighbors."

There are more reasons to see "The Fantasticks." It's a rare musical that relies on nothing more than a harp and a piano. On Thursday, Louis Lynch played a mesmerizing harp and Joe Simon matched him on piano, but you might also catch alternate harpist Elizabeth Asmus, who performed Tom Jones' premier harp score for more than two years in the off-Broadway revival of the show at the Sullivan Street Theater.

"The Fantasticks" music is technically complex, and, with the exception of the eerie "Try to Remember," it doesn't hang in your head long after the show. But there's pure pleasure (in a masochistic sort of way) in the dichotomy of Jones' searing lyrics heavy with layers of heartbreak against his light, frilly notes.

The other reason to see "The Fantasticks" is that it proves (again) that less is more. To tell the story of life — age = pain — so concisely and with little more than confetti, some plums and a cardboard moon is an achievement worthy of the history books.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com