AUDITIONS ANNOUNCED

for

THE FANTASTICKS by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones

The Newtowne Players will hold open auditions for long-time musical favorite, The Fantasticks, written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Auditions will be at 6:30 pm on August 3^rd and 5^th, with callbacks planned for 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 8^th at Three Notch Theatre in Lexington Park. Those auditioning should arrive at the beginning of the audition session.

The Fantasticks will be performed at the theater from November 6^th through November 22^nd. Kerry Robinson will direct, and the musical director will be Mrs. Diane Trautman.

The show requires six men, four of whom must sing, and one young woman who must sing. Character descriptions and the songs from the show that will be used for the musical portion of the auditions are listed below. Some easy dancing is required of the two young people and the narrator. Pantomime skills will help in some roles.

It is recommended that singers rehearse the audition music prior to the auditions. Recorded, karaoke-style versions of the songs will be available on request (see below).

If you cannot make either of the first two dates, contact the director (Kerry Robinson; 301-863-8577) about an alternate audition time. We will try to accommodate people’s schedules, if possible. You may audition at more than one of the scheduled sessions.

Come to auditions prepared to sing (except for the non-singing roles, obviously), and dressed for easy movement.

Production crew positions are also available. Contact the director if interested.

The Fantasticks Characters:

Songs for auditions: All of these songs can be viewed on Youtube for the prospective performers who are interested. If you need an audio copy of any of them, contact the director (301-863-8577) or the musical director (301-863-1181).

Luisa - "Much More" -starting with "I'd like to swim in a clear blue stream" and ending with "On and on and on!"

El Gallo - "Try to Remember" - starting at the beginning to "follow"

Matt - "Soon It's Gonna Rain" - starting with the beginning of his part of the song and ending with "run inside to stay."

Hucklebee (Matt's father) and Bellomy (Luisa's father) - both will sing "Plant A Radish" from the beginning to "until the seed is nearly grown just what you've sown."

Show Synopsis:

Act 1

The show opens with the narrator introducing the two young players, a boy and a girl (Matt and Luisa) who live next door to each other. They fall in love, but their fairy-tale romance must be kept secret from their feuding fathers (Hucklebee and Bellomy). Later, it is revealed that the "feud" was manufactured by the fathers as a way to bring their two children together by making them believe that their love was "forbidden fruit" ("They did it 'cause we said 'no'!").

Seeking to end the charade, the fathers hire the services of a rogue (El Gallo, also the play's narrator) and a roving actor and his sidekick (the "Old Actor" and "Mortimer") to stage a phony abduction of Luisa so that Matt can "rescue" her and win the approval of Luisa's father. The plan succeeds, and the two families are united.

Act II

Act II follows the young lovers into temptation and through the loss of innocence, which is a necessary condition for real love.

With their love no longer forbidden, Matt and Luisa begin to grow restless, and the fathers begin quarreling for real. Matt leaves angrily, to find out what lies "Beyond that Road", while Luisa allows herself to be seduced by the mature and dashing rogue, El Gallo. After various Huckleberry Finn-like adventures with the rogue, the "Old Actor" and Mortimer, both Matt and Luisa, having been burned by their respective experiences, rediscover their love for each other and try to develop a more mature relationship.