The Fantasticks come to the Foulds

The world's longest running musical, "The Fantasticks," will be presented by Jodick Productions at the Foulds theatre inside the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers on the weekends of April 25 and May 2.

Jodick Productions is a volunteer-based community theatre collaborative based in Cape Coral. This will be their second show of the year, following "Nunsense," which was performed in January at Cape Coral High School.

The cast hails from various communities in the greater Fort Myers area.

Bob Hedlund (El Gallo, the Narrator) is from Bokeelia and has many productions under his belt.

The meddling fathers are portrayed by veteran actor Dan Vall as Bellomy, the penny pinching father of Luisa, and making his Florida debut as Hucklebee, the retired Navy man and father of Matt is Cape Coral's Steven Pawlowski.

The children: Luisa, a lovely romantic idealist is played by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Kirkman of Cape Coral. The innocent young Matt is portrayed by Timothy Clark, a baritone from Cape Coral, and a theatre graduate of FGCU.

Comic relief is provided by Cape Coral's Joe Neelon as Henry, the aging over- the-top thespian and by Ken Ruissi of Fort Myers, as Mortimer, the man who dies. Ruissi has been acting locally for several years, mostly in Cape Coral.

Musical direction is provided by Barbara Atkins of North Fort Myers, who has been plying her creativity and talent for musical theatre in Florida for the past 15 years.

The show is under the direction of Dick Steele who has been entertaining audiences as a singer, actor, and director from Boston to Florida for over 50 years.

Show times are 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors. Call (239) 297-3077 for more information