New York City Theater

I remember when I first went to see the new Off-Broadway revival of THE FANTASTICKS quite vividly cause it was the night following my first day of law school. I enjoyed it so much that I had to see it again merely four days later on another critic's spare press ticket.

A while back, I was offered the chance to interview Anthony Federov, the AMERICAN IDOL alum who stepped into the show a bit ago. I finally took up the opportunity last week. I will interview him later in the week, but first went back to the show tonight. It just so happens that the show's home, on the first of two floors of the Snapple Theater Complex, is run by my former acting professor Cathy Russell, who is the general manager and long-running lead actress of PERFECT CRIME, the theater's other tenant. FANTASTICKS also came into the news last week by renaming its space the Jerry Orbach Theater.

At tonight's performance, Luisa, the young female lead, was performed by understudy Whitney Bashor, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Program. I don't know how many performances she has performed the role, but she was really quite wonderful.

In terms of Bashor, it's a weird comment to make, but hear me on this. She was probably the prettiest actress I've ever seen play Luisa; and incidentally, she also had the largest breasts. And it made me realize for the first time - Tom Jones (librettist) didn't just mean that this 16-year-old girl, according to the show's narrator, had underwent a change from ugly duckling to "quite pretty" - she's gone through puberty! And as in this case manifested by the girl's breasts, such a sudden change in the girl's physique has resulted in her wild emotions. (Think Lea Michele in the first scene of SPRING AWAKENING, where she is feeling her breasts.)

One other comment on Bashor - her character, Luisa, prizes a worthless neckless that supposedly once belonged to her mother. It just so happened that Bashor was also wearing earrings while performing the role. Though, as I've said, Bashor looked very pretty, she should not have been wearing the earrings. That took away from the importance of Luisa's necklace. That should be the character's only piece of jewelry, making it far more significant when El Gallo steals it from her in Act Two.

But anyway...Federov was quite good in the role. He may not have had much stage presence, but he gave a sincere, affecting performance. It was also interesting how both he and Bashor had light blonde hair - making them look very alike. And in terms of hair, Federov's hair style is very modern model-ish, and not in synch with the dramaturgical style/culture of this old-fashioned musical from 1959.

But here's the weirdest thing to note about tonight's performance - not only has the book change significantly from the original production, it's changed tremendously merely since I saw the revival a year ago. Is Tom Jones doing rewrites??? Seriously, there was so many! I couldn't believe it.

There was also a lot more camping about by the adult male actors - a lot of which was funny, some of which was really too much, especially from the adult actors playing the fathers. And in one odd moment in "Soon Its Gonna Rain," the Mute did not merely sprinkle Matt and Luisa with "rain"/glitter, but immersed them in a huge diluge of such confetti.

But overall, I truly enjoyed the show again - and I look forward to seeing it again and again. Just yesterday, i was thinking about what I consider to be the 10 perfect musicals - you know, like GYPSY, SWEENEY TODD, GUYS AND DOLLS, ect. I'd put FANTASTICKS on that list.

And having seen ROMEO AND JULIET merely days ago, I was reminded how FANTASTICKS is the postmodern ROMEO AND JULIET, where Romeo/Matt and Juliet/Luisa learn that the feuds between the fathers (i.e. Capulets and Montagues) was in reality a hoax devised by their parents to set them up. In the Public Theater's production, as I stated in my review, I wish the actors playing Romeo and Juliet had been younger. What Federov and Bashor do have is that youth (or at least they look it), and it made the performance all the more powerful.

The performance was well-filled, though not sold out. I hope it's selling well, and can continue to live on at that space.