A full production of the classic 1960’s musical “The Fantasticks” will be presented Sunday, Dec. 11, at 4 p.m. in the Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium in Melrose Hall at Linfield College.
“The Fantasticks” is the world’s longest running musical and a light-hearted but thought-provoking tale about love, friendship, and the role of fantasy and theater in daily life. The cast includes students participating in the Musical Theater Workshop class.
“The Fantasticks,” with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones, was originally written as a one-act play that premiered at Barnard College for one week in 1959. Once reworked, it opened New York in 1960 and ran until 2002, having performed an astounding 42 years and more than 17,000 performances. Due to popular demand, an Off-Broadway revival of “The Fantasticks” opened in August 2006 at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City and continues to run.
“The Fantasticks” is loosely based on “Les Romanesques” by French dramatist, Edmond Rostand, more famously known as the playwright of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” The plot draws from several romantic stories, including the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Director Hannah Penn is on faculty at Linfield and Portland State University and has been teaching college courses, performing and directing for more than 15 years. She has performed more than 30 roles with opera companies around the country. Pianist Susan McDaniel is principal staff accompanist for the Linfield College Department of Music and the Portland Opera and is featured weekly on the All Classical radio program, “Thursdays at 3:00.”
The performance is free, open to the public and sponsored by the Linfield College Department of Music. For more information, call 503-883-2275 or visit linfield.edu/arts.
