Auditions in New Braunfels for The Fantasticks, New Braunfels Theatre Company, December 8, 2013

Auditions for the New Braunfels Theatre Company's production of The Fantasticks will be held at the Seekatz Opera House – 265 W San Antonio Street in New Braunfels (click for map) on Sunday, December 8th, 2013 from 6-9 p.m. Callbacks will be Tuesday, December 10th. Singers and actors ages 14 and up are encouraged to audition. Production Dates: Friday, April 25 - Sunday, May 4, 2014.


Please bring:
1. A headshot and resume (if available).
2. Sheet music or accompanist CD for one prepared song - a verse and chorus is fine. Feel free to audition with music from the show. An accompanist will be provided.
3. One short monologue that is classical in style.
The Fantasticks is the longest-running production of any kind in the world. The poetic, moving tale of young lovers who become disillusioned, only to discover a more meaningful love, is punctuated by a bountiful series of catchy, memorable songs. It is an intimate show which engages the audience's imagination and showcases a strong ensemble cast.
The Fantasticks is under the direction of Gigi Gregersen. For more information, email Gigi at: NBTCartisticDirector@gmail.com.
Characters Needed: 

• El Gallo (the Narrator/Bandit) – 30s, sensual and worldly, baritone
• Matt (the Boy) – late teens to early 20s, low tenor/high baritone
• Luisa (the Girl) – mid to late teens, legit soprano
• Hucklebee (the Boy's father) – age 30+, baritone
• Bellomy (the Girl's father) – age 30+, baritone
• Henry (an experienced actor) – age 40+, mostly non-singing role
• Mortimer (an actor who specializes in stage deaths) – age 40+, mostly non-singing role
• The Mute

For More Information:  Email the director at NBTCartisticDirector@gmail.com.

Auditions at the Jewish Repertory Theatre, Austin, for The Fantasticks, November 6 and 13, 2013

Upcoming: The Fantasticks, Off-Broadway Productions at the Josephine Theatre, San Antonio, May 11 - 27

in San Antonio

presents

The Fantasticks

May 11 - 27

at the Josephine Theatre, 339 W Josephine, San Antonio, Texas, 78212 (click for map)
Times: Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $30.00 Telephone (210) 734-4646

The Fantasticks tells the story of a young man and the girl next door, whose parents have built a wall to keep them apart. The youngsters nevertheless contrive to meet and fall in love. Their parents, meanwhile, are congratulating themselves, for they have erected the wall and staged a feud in order to achieve, by negation, a marriage between their willfully disobedient children.

A narrator sets the imagined scene and, in due time, progresses to the role of professional abductor convincing the giddy youngsters that they are deeply embroiled in a melodramatic encounter in a garden under the moonlight. The evening itself is entirely concerned with the notion that children – of whatever age – cannot fall in love unless their love is forbidden.

Upcoming: The Fantasticks, Silver Spur Theatre, Salado, May 13 - 14

Received directly:

presents

The Fantasticks

7:30 p.m., May 13 & 14

Silver Spur Theater, 108 Royal St., Salado (click for map)

Admissions are $15 for adults; $12 for senior citizens, military personnel and students with ID; and $8 for children aged 12. No matinee. Group rates are available. For reservations, call the box office at 254-947-3456.

This romantic musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, has deep Texas roots and a UT-Austin connection before becoming the longest running musical in New York at more than 50 years. It's a moving tale of young lovers schemingly pushed together by parents. The couple becomes disillusioned, only to discover a more mature and meaningful relationship. The show is punctuated by a bountiful series of catchy, memorable songs, like "Try To Remember." For directions or more play info, visit www.saladosilverspurtheater.com.

Barbara Schuler Productions (BSP) of Cedar Park, TX, will reprise its 2010 anniversary production of the popular musical with two performances only at 7:30 p.m. on May 13 and 14 at the Silver Spur Theater, (108 Royal St.) in historic Downtown Salado. Video clip at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8Q4lZEqVs.

“BSP brought the revival of this romantic-but-bittersweet charmer to the Spur in mid-January and we’re glad to have them back,” said Grainger Esch, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Silver Spur Theater, a seven-year-old professional theater.

Theatre-goers who’ve seen this show before will enjoy it again, and those patrons who’ve never seen it will discover the magic that has made it a worldwide success,” Esch said. “At the heart of ‘The Fantasticks’ are breathtaking poetry and subtle theatrical sophistication, a purity and simplicity that transcends cultural barriers.”

Admissions are $15 for adults; $12 for senior citizens, military personnel and students with ID; and $8 for children aged 12. There will be no Saturday matinee. Group rates are available. For reservations, call the box office at 254-947-3456. For directions or more play info, visit www.saladosilverspurtheater.com.

The Silver Spur Theater serves wine, beer, cider and expanded food choices at evening shows (only) at The Spuradical Social Club in its lobby. http://www.spuradicalsocialclub.net/ Membership is achieved by swiping your driver’s license before purchasing.

“We’ve got a great cast and a brilliant music director” (David Blackburn),” said Barbara Schuler, a professional actress and director of the show. “We are all thrilled to have a chance to work together again in this revival of our March production.”

Upcoming: The Fantasticks, Silver Spur Theatre, Salado, January 14 - 15

Received directly:

The Fantasticks

50-year-old Show Still Going Strong;

Two Shows Only at Salado Silver Spur, Jan. 14-15

Admissions are $15 for adults; $12 for senior citizens, military personnel and students with ID; and $8 for children aged 12. Group rates are available. For reservations, call the box office at 254-947-3456. For directions or more play info, visit www.saladosilverspurtheater.com.

When the “Fantasticks” opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City in the spring of 1960, little did anyone know that 50 years and 11,000 productions (Not just shows!) later, it would be America’s longest-running musical.

Barbara Schuler Productions of Cedar Park, TX, will reprise its 2010 anniversary production of the popular musical with two performances only at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 14 and 15 at the Silver Spur Theater, (108 Royal St.) in historic Downtown Salado.

“We hope theatre-goers who’ve seen this romantic but bittersweet charmer before will enjoy it again, and those patrons who’ve never seen it will discover the magic that has made it a worldwide success,” said Grainger Esch, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Silver Spur Theater, a seven-year-old professional theater.

“Don’t expect a glitzy Broadway musical,” Esch noted. “At the heart of ‘The Fantasticks’” breathtaking poetry and subtle theatrical sophistication is a purity and simplicity that transcends cultural barriers.” Video clip at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK8Q4lZEqVs.

The Silver Spur Theater serves wine, beer, cider and expanded food choices at evening shows (only) at The Spuradical Social Club in its lobby. http://www.spuradicalsocialclub.net/ Membership is achieved by swiping your driver’s license before purchasing.

“We’ve got a great cast and a brilliant music director” (David Blackburn), said Barbara Schuler, a professional actress and director of the show. “We are all thrilled to have a chance to work together again in this revival of our March production.”

Click to view images and more information at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Austin Theatre Awards: B. Iden Payne Committee Has New Website, Invites Applications

The Greater Austin Creative Alliance (GACA) has established a website for the B. Iden Payne Awards, the competitive nominating and selection process for stage productions for the September - August annual season. Members of the Creative Alliance vote in September on a nomination list established by the committee, and results are celebrated in October.

Committee members are volunteers, GACA members from various branches of the arts. The Committee invites applications for vacancies that may occur at the opening of the stage season. Click on the image to go to the new website for further information.

A note: for their production of The Fantasticks, UT alumni Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones reportedly were thinking of B. Iden Payne with their affectionate portray of Henry the old stage actor, an itinerant comic figure valiantly stiff in the joints and occasionally bewildered in his Shakespearian memories. UT celebrates the 50th anniversary of the play's first Off Broadway staging in October of this year.

Click for a biography of Ben Iden Payne and a history of the awards.

The Fantasticks, Trinity Street Players at First Baptist Church, August 12 - 22

The Trinity Street Players call the third-floor theatre space at the First Baptist Church "the black box theatre." Now that I've attended three performances in that space, it seems to me that the appellation is a bit too generic.

"Black box" suggests a void, perhaps one that's wrapped in mystery. A better reference for this long-running Theatre Ministry might be "jewel box."

When we were living in Geneva, Switzerland, in the opening years of this 21st century, I took my adolescent daughter N with me for some special Christmas shopping. We went to Gobelins, the discreet high-priced dealer in jewelry and horlogerie at the Rue de Rive. In addition to their displays of the newest and most sparkling, Gobelins maintains a binder describing "heritage jewelry" for sale. With an appointment and a few days of advance notice, one can view a chosen assortment of previously-owned pieces. In that seance in early December, with my daughter's approval, in a heart-stopping moment I picked out a beautiful, classic Christmas present for my wife K.

That, approximately, is what the Trinity Street Players are about. In their third-floor space at the First Baptist Church on Trinity Street, they have been preparing and performing with discernment, discretion and style a selection of some of the best, most solid, traditional, high-value items of English language theatre. Assistant director David McCullars enticed me to their Steel Magnolias last year; I reveled in their You Can't Take It With You earlier this year; they are holding auditions on August 28 for the November production of Shadowlands, the play by William Nicholson based on the marriage of C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. McCullars will direct.

The Fantasticks fits solidly into that tradition. The show written by UT alumni celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and it is the longest-running musical in New York. In fact, UT is holding a two-day conference on October 15-16 to celebrate the anniversary, as well as staging its own production of The Fantasticks from October 15 - 24. From an earlier conversation with Trinity Street player the Rev. Ann Pittman, I had the impression that the players hadn't been aware that UT was planning the bash.

Director Cathy Jones rose to the occasion in her pre-curtain remarks, marking the 50th anniversary. That was diplomatic but unnecessary, because Trinity Street's attractive, gripping and musically sophisticated production of the show will stand up to any other that may come along.

Part of the appeal of The Fantasticks is the simplicity of its concept. Boy and girl fall in love; their fathers pretend to oppose the match and hire "El Gallo," a bandit and merchant of dreams to give the boy his chance to be a hero. Romance triumphs but gives way to unease. In the second act the boy ventures forth to explore the cruel world while the girl dallies with the mendacious El Gallo. An eventual happy ending is tinged with the melancholy feel that life is more earnest and more difficult that the dreams of romance. This action is wrapped in tunes that have become key in the musical theatre canon: Try to Remember, Soon It's Gonna Rain, and I Can See It, to name only the most evident.

Cathy Jones recruited experienced, charismatic players for this show. Joe Penrod, playing the cynical El Gallo, is one of my favorites on the Austin musical stage. Justin Langford, playing the earnest, naive young man, appeared with Penrod in Man of La Mancha at the Georgetown Palace, capturing our attention with his pure tenor.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Ongoing: The Fantasticks, Way Off Broadway Community Players, Leander, March 26 - April 11

UPDATE: Lisa Schepps of KOOP-FM interviews Musical Director David Blackburn and some of the cast: Derek Smootz (El Gallo), Eve Alonzo (The Girl), Matt Boehm (the Boy), Rebecca Stokinger (Bellemy) and Kirk Kelso (Huckleby) and they sing numbers from the show. "Off Stage and On the AIr," April 5

Found on-line:




present

The Fantasticks

by Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt
directed by Barbara Schuler
musical direction by David Blackburn
March 26 - April 11, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Matinee on Sunday, April 11 at 3 p.m.
Click Here to make Reservations
Crystal Falls Playhouse, 10960 E. Crystal Falls Parkway, Leander

"Try To Remember" a time when this romantic charmer wasn't enchanting audiences around , the world. The Fantasticks is the longest-running production of any kind in the world, and with good reason: at the heart of its breathtaking poetry and subtle theatrical sophistication is a purity and simplicity that transcends cultural barriers. Its moving tale of young lovers who become disillusioned, only to discover a more mature, meaningful love is punctuated by a bountiful series of catchy, memorable songs, many of which have become standards.

Featuring Derek Smootz, Eve G. Alonzo, Matt Boehm, Kirk Kelso, Rebecca Stokinger, Michelle Stuckey, Fred Bothwell, and Mark Butler

View video of scene with the two actors, Henry and Mortimer (6min. 20 sec.) at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Audio Programs: Off Stage and On The Air, Lisa Schepp, KOOP-FM

Lisa Schepp is now producing a weekly program on Austin musical theatre, Mondays at 1 p.m., interviewing a production member and spinning musical numbers from the recorded canon. All programs broadcast by KOOP FM (91.7) are available as podcasts or streaming video via her blog:

Latest, on June 8: Nunsense (opening June 11 at the City Theatre)

Click to link to earlier programs produced to date:

Love, Janis -- June 1 (playing at the Zach Scott Theatre)

The Jigglewatts -- May 25

The Fantasticks -- May 17 with Don Toner (playing until June 28 at Austin Playhouse)

Musical Theatre in Austin - May 10 with Latifah Taormina of Austin Circle of Theatres and Stuart Moulton of Austin Cabaret Theatre

Golf, the Musical - May 3 with Director and Cast Member Joel Blum and Texarts co-founder and executive producer, Todd Dellinger

Pilot program - April 29 with Stuart Moulton of Austin Cabaret Theatre

The Fantasticks, Austin Playhouse, May 22 - June 28

The Fantasticks at Austin Playhouse is charming. The reliable, charming low-budget winsome musical that has been charming 'em since its low-budget opening off-Broadway in 1960.

This is the show that smashed the records for long runs -- with a 42-year run by the original production and 17,162 performances. Then a New York City revival that ran 655 performances in 2006-2008 at the Snapple Theatre Center's Jerry Orbach Theatre on 50th Street, paused, then resumed and is still going. You can check out their website with perky piano audio, theatre description, ticket info and pages and pages of press clippings. Regular tickets are $75 (twofers, $112.50) and premium seating tickets are $125, which by comparison makes the Austin Playhouse production a grand bargain.

Wikipedia records that there have been 11,103 U.S. productions in 2000 U.S. cities and towns, as well as more than 700 productions in other countries, including 200 in Canada and 45 in Scandinavia.


What's the secret? There are several:

A comfortable formula (boy meets girl, fathers stage fake abduction, boy saves girl; boy discovers trickery, boy ventures into world, girl falls for cad and is disabused, couple are reunited, now more experienced and wiser).

Simple, memorable melodies and lyrics (Try to Remember, Why Did The Kids Put Beans In Their Ears?, Soon It's Gonna Rain, I Can See It).

The simple staging that evokes a troupe of traveling players. With duos: two lovers, two clownish dads, two actor-clowns. And with a mysterious master-of-ceremonies named "El Gallo" who moves the plot, fakes the abduction, seduces (or almost seduces) the jilted heroine, and exposes the lovers to the world's cruelties.

Click to read more on AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Fantasticks, Austin Playhouse, May 22 - June 28

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, May 29





Received from Austin Playhouse:

Austin Playhouse presents

The Fantasticks

music by Harvey Schmidt, book and lyrics by Tom Jones
May 22 – June 28, 2009
Thursday – Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 5pm

The world’s longest running musical is back!

The Fantasticks has enchanted audiences for almost fifty years with its timeless story, memorable music, and delightful characters. Songs like “Try to Remember,” “Much More,” and “Soon it’s Gonna Rain” frame the simple fable of a boy and a girl who find the path to true love (and learn that it never does run smooth).

Matt and Luisa have lived next door to each other their whole lives. Their fathers, Hucklebee and Bellomy, know that children only want what’s forbidden, so they build a wall between the two houses and pretend to feud. Matt and Luisa instantly fall in love. To seal the deal and end the fake feud the fathers employ the mysterious El Gallo to “kidnap” Luisa so Matt can rescue her and they can have a Happy Ending. But the young lovers must discover the real world for themselves and face true disappointments and heartbreaks before they can live happily ever after.

The Fantasticks stars Brian Coughlin as El Gallo, Tom Parker as Bellomy, Huck Huckaby as Hucklebee, David Stahl as Henry, Michael Stuart as Mortimer, Jacob Trussell as Matt, Steffanie Ngo-Hatchie as Luisa, and Kasey Eggleston as the Mute.

The Fantasticks is directed by Don Toner with musical direction by Michael McKelvey, costume design by Diana Huckaby, and lighting design by Don Day. Austin Playhouse produced a successful production of The Fantasticks in 2001. The Fantasticks opened in New York on May 3, 1960 and played 17,162 performances before closing January 13, 2002. A revival is currently running at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City.

Austin Playhouse at Penn Field, 3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C

Prices: $28 Thursday and Friday, $30 Saturday and Sunday, $35 Opening Night, Friday May 22nd
All student tickets are half-price.
Info/Reservations: (512) 476-0084
Website: www.austinplayhouse.com