sightful duet “Never Say No,” the Fathers explain their intentions for arranging their children’s marriage, all the while appearing the typical, disapproving parents. At this point, the Narrator becomes more actively involved in the action of the story and convinces the Fathers that the only way to truly insure their children’s pairing is to stage an abduction of the Girl, thereby allowing the Boy to save her and the two to live happily ever after. Enlisting the help of a couple of ancient traveling players, the Fathers and El Gallo do indeed stage a rather miserable kidnapping, which works perfectly in convincing the Boy and Girl they do truly love one another and are destined to be together forever. All of this occurs before intermission, so what’s left to tell in the second act? Simply, how life sets in, how happily ever after seldom ends happily, and whether we like it or not, how pain and heartbreak are an essential part of real love.It is really in the telling of the second act that the story of The Fantasticks begins to soar. Because it is at this point we begin to see the contrast between the young lover’s idealized vision of love and the reality of trying to maintain love in a world full of thieves, cheats, and charlatans. As the second act begins, we see the actors, the Fathers and the Boy and Girl, in the same exact position they were in at the close of the first, having just finished a number called “Happy Ending.” Now, however, the light is more glaring, the positions growing more uncomfortable by the minute, and the expressions on the character’s faces become increasingly strained and forced. It is a wonderful moment onstage that speaks volumes about how difficult it is to maintain that warm, romantic glow of love in the harsh glare of daylight. Reminiscent of Blanche DuBouis and her desperate need to hide from the glare, or Sondheim’s Into the Woods, ...
