PARK CITY — “It is September,” El Gallo tells the audience, “the perfect time to be in love.” It is also the perfect time for “The Fantasticks,” the theater world’s longest-running musical.
At the Broadway in the Mountains production, Dennis Parlato will play the part of El Gallo, who speaks those iconic lines. And it’s a role the professional actor knows well, having played the show’s central character numerous times on the New York stage.
Parlato will re-create the dynamic role as a guest artist at the Egyptian Theatre from Sept. 9-18.
In the sparkling jewel of American musical theater, the mysterious bandit introduces the main characters of the beguiling love story before inserting himself into the action to influence the young lovers’ fate.
“El Gallo is a wonderfully complex philosopher-poet,” Parlato says. “As the show’s lyricist and book writer, Tom Jones, explains, he missed his chance at a substantive love in his life, and that’s why he is so intent on teaching the harsh lessons to these young romantics before it’s too late for them.
“Not to say that he doesn’t have a great deal of fun along the way,” he adds. “But at the same time, the ultimate lesson is serious, and it exacts a price from all involved. That includes El Gallo, who hurts them as well as himself ‘a little bit’ in order to give them depth.”
Parlato’s association with “The Fantasticks” began in 1985, when the show’s original creators cast him for the part at the Sullivan Street Theatre, where the show had run for 42 years. He returned as El Gallo for the celebrated 2006 revival that continues today at New York’s Orbach Theater, named in honor of actor Jerry Orbach, who created the El Gallo role in the historic original production.
“‘The Fantasticks’ has endured because it is a timeless story told in a very skillful fashion that includes poetry, philosophy, slapstick, romanticism — both shallow and substantive — and some very memorable songs,” Parlato says.
Director Terence Goodman explains the show is “perfect family entertainment, for both children and adults. It is full of mystery and magic; it’s a feel-good musical. And the songs are now musical-theater classics that are sung alongside other popular standards of the great American songbook.”
Parlato will bring his experience playing El Gallo to his interpretation of the wistful “Try to Remember,” in which September love is examined. Of the widely known song, Parlato says, “I am inviting the assembled audience to leave their present troubles behind and go back to the time of their youth, to enter into a sensitive, reflective, reminiscing state so they can be open to receive what is about to follow.”
While Goodman and Parlato had met earlier, their friendship was rekindled in Utah at the Pioneer Theatre Company where they had lead roles in “Paint Your Wagon” and “42nd Street.”
Parlato has abundant Broadway credits, beginning with his performance in the original production of “A Chorus Line.” He went on to major roles in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The Sound of Music.” “Guiding Light” viewers will remember his Roger Thorpe role.
Goodman is also no stranger to the New York stage. He has also directed more than 50 plays and musicals.
Goodman says one of the objectives of Broadway in the Mountains is to cast Broadway-caliber talent in central roles who can mentor local actors, providing a largely unprecedented educational experience.
Working with the Utah-based cast has been “tremendous,” Parlato says.
Goodman explains the younger performers “are a little nervous at first, wondering where their talents fit in. But they rise up to the level of the Equity (actors union) players, and it’s a great boost as they begin their own professional careers.
“This is probably the finest cast I’ve been able to work with since I moved to Utah six years ago,” he says.
If you go …
What: “The Fantasticks”
Where: Broadway in the Mountains at Park City’s Egyptian Theatre
When: Weekends from Sept. 9-18
Phone: 435-645-0671
Web: parkcityshows.com