The Sayville Players Commemorated Its

30^th Annual January Theatre Lab with

An Actors Life For Me!  and

The Fantasticks!

By presenting two shows over five consecutive days, the 30^th Annual Sayville Players Theatre Laboratory production was indeed something to celebrate. Each show began with the prelude (under the umbrella title of An Actors Life for Me), in which comic “shorts” about show business people were played by an engaging and entertaining cast of Sayville Drama students.  

This was immediately followed by The Fantasticks—multi-casted so that major roles could be shared by five different sets of actors over the four nights and one afternoon—hence, the experiment in theatre!

“…We have experimented in our theatre laboratory with a variety of different types of theatre using a variety of theatre production styles,” Director Steve Hailey explained in the program. “Now, 29 years later, I can only say that I have never regretted adding this performance to the drama program. In the course of our various theatrical experiments, I have seen high school students approach professional levels of performance as we have explored, in depth, virtually every aspect of dramatic enterprise, and at the same time, we’ve had a lot of fun. We’re hoping to share some of that fun with you tonight.”

Again, this year, the theatrical experiment yielded fantastic results. The Fantasticks’ sophisticated yet catchy music, such as Try to Remember, Soon It’s Gonna Rain, Plant a Radish, and Round and Round—central in the longest running off-Broadway musical comedy (by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt)—was expertly performed by the dynamic Sayville Players.

Even more memorable were the artful and unique depictions by each cast of the goofy love-struck couple Luisa and Matt, the swashbuckling intrigue of the mysterious stranger El Gallo and his aging acting troupe Henry and Mortimer, the wise parents Huckelbee and Bellomy, and the “Wall” (Marcella the Mute) that both divided and conquered to create a happy ending. Each of the five casts played up to the simplistic elements of the romantic comedy so well, that no matter what night/afternoon performance the audiences attended, they had hearty laughs and lots of fun every time.

Below are slide shows of the Laboratory Theatre...  Please note, that while there were five different sets of casts for The Fantasticks, snapshots for one performance (January 10th) were not available for the slideshow.   Stay posted in case a revision that includes the performance on the 10th becomes available.