Comment on Hackmatack Playhouse closing 45th season with fantastic ‘Fantasticks’

Hackmatack Playhouse is closing out its 45th anniversary season with a production that’s a walk down memory lane. “The Fantasticks” was the third show of the playhouse’s opening season in 1972. After 44 years of requests, the musical returns to the barn stage with a quaint rendition that lives up to its tongue-in-cheek title. Marcus Provost sets the scene as the story’s puppet master narrator, El Gallo, lulling the audience with a beautifully rich performance of “Try to Remember.” From there, the satirical fable unfolds, introducing the audience to a girl (Mai Hartwich), a boy (Will Lombard), the girl’s father (Todd Fernald) and the boy’s father (Christopher Gempp). It’s an improbable tale, filled with proverbial meaning, as the boy and girl fall in love, secretly manipulated by their fathers, who have built a wall to feign a feud. Mai Hartwich and Will Lombard as Luisa (The Girl) and Matt (The Boy), with Marcus Provost as El Gallo (The Narrator) in “The Fantasticks.” Photo by Michael Turner/Courtesy of Hackmatack Playhouse Lombard offers an adorable and campy performance as the boy, Matt, head-over-heels for the girl, Luisa.