(1960) Music by Harvey Schmidt • Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones SYNOPSIS*
A
s related by a singing storyteller, two young neighbors, Matt and Luisa—for years nearly oblivious to each other— have grown up and fallen in love. Their feuding parents—Matt’s father and Luisa’s mother— do not approve of this relationship and have constructed a wall between their properties. The young couple have had to conduct their romance in secret. Matt’s father, despite his son’s pleas of independence, has, in fact, chosen a wife for him. Luisa’s mother intends to supplement the wall with a fence. In truth, this is all part of the parents’ plan to bring them together: forbid children from doing something, and they will do it. Matt’s father hatches a plan to end the fabricated “feud” and hasten the children’s relationship. He has
hired a professional abductor, El Gallo, who will carry Luisa off. She will be gallantly rescued by Matt, with the parents so pleased that all can end happily. The scheme goes according to plan—the wall eventually comes down and all seems to be going swimmingly for both children and parents. But without the previous sense of adventure and forbidden romance, life has become too easy. Matt and Luisa want something more: he ventures out to validate his heroism and she becomes obsessed with the handsome and alluring El Gallo. It takes a full dose of the “real world” to finally convince the couple of what really matters. *In response to COVID-19 constraints, and with the permission of the music publisher, slight changes in character assignments have been made.
Cast The Narrator (El Gallo)...................................................... Mark Hosseini The Girl (Luisa)......................................................................Teryn Kuzma The Boy (Matt).....................................................................Spencer Reese The Boy’s Father (Hucklebee)....................................... Benjamin Krumreig The Girl’s Mother (Bellomy)...........................................Michelle Pedersen The Old Actor (Henry)............................................................ Vince Gover The Man Who Dies (Mortimer)............................................... Adam Wells The Mute..............................................................................Caitlin Ruddy Understudy for Luisa......................................... Elizabeth Stockton Perkins Steven A. Daigle, Stage Director Wilson Southerland, Music Director, piano Spencer Reese, Choreographer Charlene Gross, Costume Designer Kiah Kayser, Scenic and Props Artisan Christopher Plummer, Sound Designer 14 Box Office: 330.263.2345
