March 2010

Dear Subscriber: 

It’s hard to imagine that just a few months ago we were being thrilled by Amadeus and now we are coming to the close of our 2009-10 season. The response to the work we have done both on the Mainstage and in the Studio Theatre as well as with our Imaginary Theatre Company has been wonderful. Thank you for your support of the work of The Rep, and for spreading the word about what goes on at our theatre.

Our final Mainstage show this season is the enchanting musical, The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Without a doubt, it is one of my favorite musicals and also one of the major reasons I got into this business. There is a magic in this piece that makes it irresistible and inspiring. From colored tissue paper floating through the air that becomes leaves or snow or anything we want it to be, to the wonderful score, it is a show both of whimsy and heart. It is surprising to hear many people say that they have never seen this show. Now is the time to come and enjoy one of the most popular musicals ever written.

Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest-running musical, The Fantasticks gained that distinction because it embraces a familiar world that is presented with humor, charm and a little danger. Simply put, it is a story of a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. The fathers realize that to get their kids to discover each other, they need to keep them apart. So the game is on. Of course, the boy and girl fall in love and want to experience everything the world has to offer. El Gallo, the narrator of the piece, takes on the character of a romantic bandit and shows them the world isn’t as kind a place as they once thought. By the end of the adventure, everyone is a little wiser but also truly happy. The score features beloved songs like Try To Remember, Soon It’s Gonna Rain, Much More and others that you have certainly heard, even if you didn’t know they were from this historical musical.

The show’s journey to the stage is fascinating theatrical lore. Written in the 1950s era of enormous productions, Schmidt and Jones set out to create a big Broadway hit. Their musical, first titled Joy Comes to Dead Horse, was to be set on a ranch in their home state of Texas complete with huge casts, lavish sets and even horses on stage. The story was an adaptation of the French piece Les Romanesques, which was a sort of backward Romeo and Juliet with two fathers concocting a plan to get their rebellious kids to fall in love. Schmidt and Jones’ version was a mess. “We worked on it, very haphazardly, over a period of several years” Jones recalled in a 1990 interview, “trying to take the story and force it into a Rodgers and Hammerstein mold which is what everybody did in those days. Eventually, the whole project just collapsed. Our treatment was too heavy, too inflated… it seemed hopeless.” 

They needed a miracle, and one came in their college friend Word Baker. He was directing a one-act play festival and had room for a musical. He suggested the pair condense theirs and he’d include it in his show. They had four weeks and a miniscule budget, but they were up to the challenge. They slashed the cast, much of the score, all the horses and were left with a simple plot and an even simpler stage, which allowed them to regain all of the whimsy and magic they had always wanted from the original story. In a 2002 interview, Jones remembered the process:

We threw out everything we had except a song called ‘Try to Remember’ and went back to the original play… We decided, “What the heck. It’s never going to get put on anyway,” so we did all the things we liked in theatre—all the presentation things, the commedia dell’arte, the Shakespeare, the Oriental theatre, the invisible prop man sprinkling snow—everything that used the imagination, a celebration of theatricality. We put it on and lo and behold, we got offers from three different producers.

In a theatre world full of huge musicals, Jones and Schmidt’s little creation took Off-Broadway by storm, running for 42 years at the Sullivan Street Playhouse after its 1960 opening and continuing today in a new revival. 

Victoria Bussert returns to direct our version of this beloved musical after helming the wildly successful [title of show] last month in the Studio. She has assembled a wonderful cast including Cory Michael Smith and Stella Heath as the star-crossed lovers Matt and Luisa. Their fictitiously feuding fathers are played by Dan Sharkey and Scott Schafer (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and their schemes are aided by Brian Sutherland (Kiss Me, Kate) as the suave El Gallo and his ragtag band of players including Sara M. Bruner, Joneal Joplin (Kiss Me, Kate) and John Woodson (Kiss Me, Kate). Our creative team is composed almost entirely of familiar faces as we welcome musical director David Horstman ([title of show]), choreographer MartÌn Cèspedes, scenic designer Gary M. English (Over the Tavern), costume designer Dorothy Marshall Englis (A Christmas Story), lighting designer Peter E. Sargent (Amadeus) and Rep resident sound designer Rusty Wandall, who is designing his sixth show of the season. 

Downstairs, we are closing the Studio Theatre season with a powerhouse play—a stark, invigorating new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Though it might seem impossible to bring a 700-plus page masterpiece to the stage, Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus have done just that, focusing in on the real heart of the timeless story. Their creation is truly unique in that the story is told with only three actors (some playing more than one part) in less than 90 minutes. Unlike The 39 Steps, this is not a send-up of the novel, but is a serious rendition of the story told in a fascinating new way. The central character, Raskolnikov, is unfettered without many of the novel’s secondary storylines, allowing us to plunge deep into his twisted psyche. As we wander the landscape of his mind, led by the clever Inspector Porfiry, we are left to wonder not only why Raskolnikov made his choice, but whether it was really right or wrong and if he can ever find redemption. It is a smart, stunning adaptation no one will want to miss.

Stuart Carden directs this remarkable show. You’ll remember him as the director of last year’s Kevin Kline Award-winning Off-Ramp production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore. The cast includes both new and familiar faces with Jimmy King as Raskolnikov, Amy Landon (The Miracle Worker) as Sonia and Triney Sandoval as Inspector Porfiry. Our design team includes scenic designer Gianni Downs (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), costume designer Garth Dunbar (Rabbit Hole), lighting designer Brian Sidney Bembridge and sound designer Andre Pluess (Metamorphoses).

Both on the Mainstage and in the Studio, we are bringing you two shows bursting with theatricality. They will engage you in very different ways which is really exciting. Thank you so much for being a part of our Rep family. Have a wonderful spring and summer; we look forward to seeing you again in the fall.

See you at the theatre,

Steven Woolf 

Artistic Director

P.S. Watch for our 2010-11 season announcement in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, March 14.  Renewal packets will mail the following day. We have some very exciting news indeed!   

Don’t forget to get your tickets for Imaginary Theatre Company’s special performances of A Peter Rabbit Tale on March 13 and Amelia Earhart, March 18-28. Tickets for these fun, 45-minute children’s shows are only $6, so call the Box Office today!