Love is 'Fantastick' at The Acting Company

"'The Fantasticks' is the longest-running musical in the history of musical theater," said director Curt Schroeder. It opens Friday and runs through Feb. 12 at The Acting Company in Yuba City.

"It has a basic plot of boy meets girl; boy and girl fall in love; boy and girl have problems, fall out of love, go off in different directions, come back; and — oh, I'm sorry — I'm giving away the plot," Schroeder said with a smile.

"Actually, that's the plot of an awful lot of stories — books, movies and so on — but we're still suckers for that because it's a basic theme in our culture," he added.

The story is about two neighbors — a widowed father (John Elliott) and a widowed mother (Deeawn Scruby) — who conspire to trick their children, Matt (Wesley Morse) and Luisa (Sydney Johnson), to fall in love.

"We've got a great cast. It's always a lot of fun to watch a couple of young people who are attractive fall in love. That makes us think, perhaps, of when we were younger. And when they inevitably have problems, there's that bittersweet feeling that we get — and we also look at that with a kind of longing, even though it was painful when we were younger," Schroeder said.

The cast includes Anthony Dost as El Gallo, Saidy Iraiqat as Mortimer and Dan Salamone as Henry.

"There's some great music in the show — and probably some songs that will sound familiar to you when you hear them," Schroeder said, including "Try To Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain." Musical director Steve Shepard provides accompaniment on keyboard with percussion by Rob Hilton.

"I think everyone will really enjoy the show. There's also a lot of different types of dance in it — ballet, vaudeville, waltzes, soft shoe. And different kinds of songs — love songs, comic songs," Schroeder said.

"The set is very minimalist; in fact, the set is black," he added.

"We have a mute (Gabrielle Hayes) who goes around and sets up all the props and pieces of the set, whether it's a staircase, or perhaps she holds a branch over the lovers so it seems like they are in a glen. Sometimes she sprinkles things over their heads that are supposed to represent rain or snow," Schroeder said.

"The main reason I suggest you come see the show is for the story. It's a storyline that we're all familiar with, and it has been done hundreds — if not thousands — of times. But it doesn't matter how many times it has been done; it's just one of those basic archetypes in our culture that everyone can relate to," Schroeder said.

"Everyone loves a romance, right?"

CONTACT Susan Benitez at sbenitez@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4773. Find her on Facebook at /ADFeatures or on Twitter at @adfeatures.