The two songs already mentioned, and “Good Girl Winnie Foster,” are exceptions. Adhering to current musical theater trends - think “Mean Girls,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Next to Normal” -some songs are unmelodic and unmemorable, especially in the first act, with lyrics basically shouted at the audience to propel the story. The music is superbly delivered by an onstage band led by Janis Dunson Wilson.Ĭomposer Miller’s music is perhaps the show’s one weak link. The large cast includes many talented dancers, with marvelous moves by choreographer Karen Miles, Cornelius and ensemble.

Sanders of KFC fame, Setzer is beguiling, convincing and comical as only he can be.Ĭostumes by Donnie Frank are period-appropriate and occasionally whimsical.

They go for long periods - 10 years or more - without seeing each other, to avoid arousing suspicion among the locals.Ī secondary plot is the arrival of the fair (more amazing projections!) and with it a charmingly malevolent huckster (theater veteran Tim Setzer) known only as “The Man in the Yellow Suit.” Apparently endowed with mystical powers, he correctly guesses the ages of fair-goers, and quickly sees through the Tucks’ ruse. Winnie soon discovers that the Tuck family members, despite being immune to injury and illness, still need to eat, drink, sleep and perform other normal activities. So is Gleason’s performance of the dramatically melancholy “Time,” in which Miles reveals a heartbreaking secret. His comic song-and-dance number “You Can't Trust a Man” (with Chase Thompson as would-be deputy Hugo) is a highlight of the second act. Schloemp's projection work, beautifully enveloping, is truly one of the stars of this stellar production.Īlso a talented actor, Schloemp delights in the show as Constable Joe, Treegap’s sole law enforcement officer. Thanks to Chris Schloemp’s gorgeously inventive projections, the audience emerges above the treetops as the two youngsters do so onstage. A first-act tree-climbing scene is astounding. It’s a great classic setup - spunky girl leaves home and meets mysterious stranger in the deep woods. Tired of her imposed restrictions, Winnie runs away into the nearby forest, where she befriends the perpetually 17-year-old Jesse Tuck. She absolutely shines on Spreckels’ big stage. Molly Belle Hart, also of Petaluma, is amazingly confident and delightful as Winnie. With grandmother Nana (Kimberly Kalember), they’ve been in reclusive black-clad mourning for almost a year, after the death of Winnie’s father. Soon it’s 82 years later, the year 1890 in the town of Treegap, New Hampshire, where Winnie is anxiously begging her mother Betsy (Erin Henninger) to let her out of the house to go to the county fair. Gleason, respectively) - immediately cease to age. The entire Tuck clan - Angus, mother Mae (Tika Moon) and sons Jesse and Miles (Nico Alva and Samuel J.

“Where there's water, there's opportunity,” opines patriarch Angus Tuck (Petaluma actor Larry Williams), not realizing the scope of his words’ implications. The immortals in this case are the Tuck family, newly arrived, in 1808, to a New Hampshire forest, where they unknowingly drink from a magic spring. This large-scale musical evokes many familiar stories, echoing “Peter Pan,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Wizard of Oz,” with elements derived from ancient mythologies, especially interactions of immortal beings with normal people. Not a problem, you say? It’s a serious conundrum for 11-year-old Winnie Foster in “Tuck Everlasting: the Musical” at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park, running through May 21.ĭirected by Emily Cornelius – with a book by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, music by Chris Miller and lyrics by Nathan Tysen, based on the popular novel by Natalie Babbitt – this latest production from Spreckels Theatre Company is a beautifully realized pastoral fantasy. Imagine choosing between eternal youth and fulfilling an ordinary human existence.

Tuck everlasting musical