Tag Archives: Michael Redfield

Musical Review: The Fantasticks

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There is some kind of magic, some kind of dark matter, not seen, but ever present, in the script and music of The Fantasticks, a musical with a story and characters that keep traveling across generations. Ruskin Group Theatre brings back the enchantment and humor of this pastoral image of America.

With Danny Bernardo‘s endearing voice, the character El Gallo sings “Try to Remember”, opening up a story that shows the naive vision of love and the harsh realities of life. Based on writer/director Scott Miller’s analysis, the story of The Fantasticks is an evolution of Aucassin and Nicolette, a medieval chantefable from the 12th or 13th century. It contains universal themes that connect with the audience in perplexing ways. The show has been staged multiple times around the world with impressive success.

In Elina de Santos‘ production, the characters capture the illusions of the young and the stubbornness of the old, with the complex layers of El Gallo, the mysterious and alluring bandido. De Santos builds a universe of innocence, trickery, and mythical search for happiness. Her characters experience the profound transformation implied in the script, aligning the characters to serve the story and complete the cycle. She does that without sacrificing the comical element in this musical. The humor and oddity is mainly projected by Michael Redfield as Mortimer and John Wuchte as Henry. These two extraordinary actors mesmerize and engage with their performance, adding a topsy-turvy and exciting vibe to the story.

As for El Gallo, Bernardo plays his character with an attractive aura of mystery, temptation, and wicked wisdom that reminds us of the duality of good and evil, a concept that dates back to the beginning of human history. The innocence, of course, relies on Pollono as Luisa, and Hemingway as Matt. With all of their youth in full display, they execute a lively performance that translates the dreams and the naiveness implied in their roles. They have more experience to gain, but they’re on their way to new heights.

De Santos uses her creativity to highlight the figures of speech that give depth to the story. The moonlight, hiding the shortcomings, and the sun, exposing them, are devices used effectively to transmit the message clearly. De Santos also excels in building the myth of Luisa and Matt. She progresses the scenes to show their longings for something more than the immediate environment in which they live, eager to explore the world laid out before their eyes. The transformation experienced through their growth and wisdom achieved through their travels and pain, is cleverly displayed in the last scenes. It’s implicit in the play, sometimes it is necessary to get hurt to unlock true love. Both Luisa and Matt get to understand this passage of life, and just like in Aucassin and Nicolette, their love only grows stronger as they are apart from each other.

To close the cycle, El Gallo leads the ensemble to sing “Try to Remember”, an invitation to go back to our childhood, to the excitement of our idealistic dreams, a return to innocence. The audience accepted the invitation.

The Fantasticks

Ruskin Group Theatre
3000 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90405

July 18, 2025 – August 24, 2025
8pm on Fridays, Saturdays; 2pm Sundays

Tickets: ruskingrouptheatre.com

Book and lyrics by Tom Jones
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Directed by Elina de Santos
Musical Direction by Michael Redfield
Presented by Ruskin Group Theatre

Cast: Michael D. Cohen as Bellomy, Danny Bernardo as Narrator/El Gallo, Rhett Hemingway as Matt, Kiel Kennedy as Hucklebee, Sophie Pollono as Luisa, Michael Redfield as Mortimer, Raven Scott as Mute, John Wuchte as Henry, Silas Shultz as Understudy/Matt.

Creative team: Bruce Goodrich (Scenic Design), Michael Redfield (Sound Design/Music Director), Matt Richter (Lighting Design), Jennifer Oundjian (Choreographer), Erik Hall (Co-choreographer), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), John Ruskin (Artistic Director/Producer), Michael Myers (Producing Artistic Director), Nicole Millar (Production Stage Manager).

Theatre Review: Evanston Salt Costs Climbing

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With its mixture of reality, fiction, and loose ends, Evanston is not an easy play to stage. However, under the brilliant direction of Guillermo Cienfuegos and a talented cast, Will Arbery‘s characters come to life to offer an amusing story about…salt and technology.

There is, of course, more than just salt and technology. Basil (Hugo Armstrong) and Peter (Michael Redfield) work in the Department of Public Works, salting the roads during snow season in the city of Evanston, Illinois. Peter seems depressed and thinks about death constantly. Basil is from Greece. He has a secret that bothers him a lot. Their boss is Jane (Lesley Fera). Basil and Jane are engaging in some sexual shenanigans.  Jane has a 31-year-old daughter, Jane Jr. (Kaia Gerber), who is insecure and suicidal. Basil talks about a lady in a purple hat who appears at times during the play. The story sounds simple and straightforward, until it doesn’t.

The scenes then turn topsy-turvy, jumping from reality to the surreal. And that’s where our imagination kicks in. The minimal exposition of the characters and their existential crises converge to make some kind of sense, but it’s up to the audience to connect the dots and find the explanation of the mayhem seen on stage. And that might be the value of this play. It seems as if Arbery didn’t just write a play to hypnotize the audience. Arbery wants the spectator to collaborate with him to write the story together. The relationship then becomes a clash between writer and audience. As an agent provocateur, Arbery shakes the spectators to get them out of their comfort zone and allow them to construct the drama and find the solution of the story. The dramatic elements are scattered around in an open form, and it’s the audience who solves the puzzle. An amusing challenge to say the least.

The play could’ve been flat and boring as an experimental piece. Fortunately, Cienfuegos excites the elements and the characters become a spectacular display of dysfunctional personalities on the verge of self-destruction, with plenty of drama and comedy in between to engage and entertain. To heighten the experience, Scenic Designer Mark Mendelson uses a variety of elements and effects to convey the snowy surroundings and the fantastical allusions described in the play.

One can imagine that the director and actors had to work a bit harder to find the motivations that drive the story and the characters. This is because the play looks like an open story, somehow like Luis Buñuel‘s films and Edward Albee‘s plays, with absurdist situations and strange characters with no apparent direction. But with his usual magic touch, Cienfuegos takes the script and turns it into a dynamic expression that uses physical and verbal comedy as a vehicle to express the abstract truths of the story and infuse the characters with a thrilling aura of surrealism to compliment Arbery’s fantasy-reality dualism.

One of the themes in the play is the advancement of technology and the displacement of certain jobs. As a new technology with heated roads threatens Basil and Peter’s jobs, Jane tries to save their jobs, although she gets a better position for herself. Not much hope for Basil and Peter, but that’s how the story goes, at times reflecting our pressing reality, such as AI, a threat for some, an opportunity for others.

In a series of scenes, Arbery gives his characters some kind of backstory to justify their actions. Those revelations however, are not detailed enough to project Peter and Basil as fully developed characters. This might be intentional to force the audience to fill in the blanks in that exercise of solving the puzzle together.

To emphasize the absurdist tone of the play, Arbery adds a strange case of entity fusionism. Basil tells Peter of a dream where he and his grandma experience a close encounter with each other. The description is shocking and surreal, a symbolic instance similar to the one experienced by Montero in Carlos Fuentes‘ fantastical novel Aura, a bit different, but using sexuality as a projection of grander themes.

One aspect that makes this production an exciting experience is the superb acting. The four thespians play their parts with passion and give the characters a suspenseful sense of despair and hope, always holding on for dear life. Armstrong, Redfield, and Fera are a display of talented stage experience, contributing to create emotional, dysfunctional, and engaging performances to make this complex story work. As for Gerber, she exhibits depth and commitment to the craft. She has a commanding stage presence, moving easily between drama and comedy, delivering her lines with conviction and offering a moving performance, hinting even a career in music? She’s a rising stage star and a refreshing addition to the theatre scene.

In trying to define Evanston, we can say that the play features themes of new technology, guilt, insecurities, suicidal tendencies, human relationships, and a whole lot of salt. But it is the audience who build, define, and find the beauty in the abstract world of Will Arbery.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing

Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre)
7657 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Opening: 8pm on Saturday, January 25, 2025
Schedule: 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays
(No performances on Monday January 27, February 10)
Closing: March 9, 2025

Tickets: roguemachinetheatre.org

Written by Will Arbery. Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos. Assistant Director: Hall McCurdy. Produced by Justin Okin. Associate Producer: Athena Saxon. A Rogue Machine Production.

Cast: Hugo Armstrong as Basil. Lesley Fera as Jane Maiworm. Kaia Gerber as Jane Jr. Michael Redfield as Peter.

Creative team: Mark Mendelson (Scenic Design), Dan Weingarten (Lighting Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Jenine MacDonald (Prop Design), Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer (Projection Design), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Myrna Gawryn (Movement Director/Intimacy Coordinator), Rachel Ann Manheimer (Stage Manager), Grant Gerrard (Technical Director).