A fantastic review for ‘ The Fantasticks’ at Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Sand Harbor State Park, Nevada

I was invited by Rae Matthews, the Community Engagement Manager of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, to experience one of the most entertaining and comical plays I’ve seen all year!

Now, imagine my setting~ the sun is setting on the Sierra’s with Lake Tahoe behind the stage, glistening with the sunset rays of light, as the curtain begins to open. I’m in an outdoor amphitheater with servers, bringing cocktails and dinner to your seat. It’s a charming set-up and the seats are very comfortable and spaciously arranged so you have plenty of elbow room. Delicious appetizers, entree’s and desserts are provided by Brimm’s Catering company.

The Fantasticks, the World’s Longest Running Musical; since its first opening in May of 1960, in New York. The book & lyrics are by Tom Jones with Music by Harvey Schmidt and this production directed by Victoria Bussert.

It’s a charming and romantic musical about one young couple, two “feuding” fathers and an infinite love that transcends over time, The Fantasticks whimsically whisks audiences on a journey of imagination into a world of moonlight, magic and memory. Along the way, love is found, lost and rediscovered again after a poignant realization that “without a hurt, the heart is hollow.”

Matt (actor, Pedar Benson Bate) and Luisa (actor, Claire Howes Eisentrout) comprise “the perfect couple” in Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Fantasticks at Sand Harbor State Park which runs through August 23, 2015.

 

 

Mortimer (actor, Jeffrey C. Hawkins, left) and Henry (actor, M.A. Taylor, right) share a comic moment in Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Fantasticks at Sand Harbor State Park

 

 

El Gallo ( Michael Padgett) and Luisa (actor, Claire Howes Eisentrout) share the spotlight in Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Fantasticks at Sand Harbor State Park

 

This production is running through August 23 at Sand Harbor State Park in Nevada. Please click on their website for the Calendar of dates and pricing for this spectacular musical that IPA Magazine highly recommends!

The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor remains a fun, casual evening on the beach, but under the stewardship of the Board of Directors and Festival management, it has also become one of the outstanding outdoor cultural events in the United States. In addition to producing professional productions of Shakespeare and other classics for nearly 25,000 patrons each summer, the Festival’s Monday Night and Summer Encore Showcases, featuring the best of the region’s arts and culture organizations, reaches an additional 5,000 audience members. LTSF’s educational outreach programs reach over 7,000 young people each year, through two free programs, the D. G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare Program, an interactive adaptation of a Shakespeare play for children performed at Sand Harbor and around the region during the summer, and InterACT, an in-school residency program which explores Shakespeare and the classics in schools throughout the region during the academic year.

Please click here for the Calendar of events, dates and pricing!