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Home > Archive > Apr 24, 2008

The Magic of Theater
By Elizabeth Brown
A dream of sorts will come true next week for schoolteacher Michael Eaton.  He gets to play the role of Henry in St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Fantasticks,” showing May 1-10 at the Eccles Mainstage Theater at Dixie State College.
“I’ve wanted this role since I was in high school!” Eaton said. “Henry captures the essence of what theater is about. In his speech, he keeps telling the audience to imagine that he has makeup, that he is a different person. That’s the magic of theater – that you can use your imagination to create a whole new person.”
Eaton first became acquainted with that magic at age 8, when he played a Munchkin in “Wizard of Oz.” He has been involved in theater ever since. In high school, he was the drama club president, and he later taught drama at Pine View High School for nine years. Currently he teaches language arts and history at Desert Hills Middle School, and next year he plans to return to teaching drama, this time at the new Desert Hills High School.
Teaching isn’t all that different from acting, according to Eaton.
“Every teacher is an actor,” he pointed out. “They do four to seven shows a day. They have to get up in front of the kids and entertain, in a way.”
Aside from his “role” as a teacher, Eaton does community theater for fun whenever he has the time. “The Fantasticks” will be his third performance with SGMT. Previously he played Horace Vandergelder in “Hello, Dolly!” and investigator Henry Blore in “And Then There Were None.”
According to Eaton, “The Fantasticks” is a comic love story based on a French play called “The Romantics.” The show portrays two fathers who want their two young children to marry each other when they grow up, so the fathers devise a plan to make sure the marriage will happen. 
“The first act is romantic and takes place in the moonlight,” Eaton explained. “Act Two takes place in sunlight, and we see more of the reality of life. The characters realize there’s both good and bad in life, and we have to learn how to deal with both.”

“The Fantasticks” has the distinction of being the longest-running musical in history. The show played at the Little Theater in New York City continuously for 40 years, and several of its songs became hits, including “Try to Remember.”
“The Little Theater was a converted church that held only about 100 people,” Eaton said. “It used to be that when you went to New York, that was what you did. You went to see ‘The Fantasticks.’”
Eaton, who saw the show in New York, said he believes it became popular partly because the intimacy of the Little Theater was mesmerizing, and partly because it is a simple and enchanting story.
“What do I like about the show?” Eaton said. “Everything! We did it in high school, and I was on the stage crew. That’s when I first fell in love with it. It really is a simple show, and it reminds me that we’re poking fun at ourselves here.”
Eaton said that to him, the most exciting thing about theater is the process of making characters come to life.
“I love the creative process!” he said. “You look at this flat-page personality, and you realize that this person does not exist until an actor breathes life into it. They’re just on a page, and you get to say, I will now create a person. It’s so fun! I have a ball with it.”
Of course, acting can present difficulties along with the fun.
“At my age, the hardest thing is memorization!” Eaton said with a laugh. “But the other hard thing is sometimes not being able to ‘find’ the character I’m playing. Trying to find him is a continual process. While I was working on the role of Henry, I finally started to write about him. That helped me find him.”
The role of Henry presents other unique challenges for Eaton.
“I have to be older – about 70,” said Eaton. “One day I realized Henry was like my grandpa, and that made it easier. I started using my grandpa as my inspiration and guide. I’ve tried to pick up certain mannerisms that he had. I’ve also started watching older people. So my character becomes a composite of all of that.
“Actors have to find inspiration from a lot of places,” Eaton added. “They have to be observers of life and tap into the things they know about. When you’re creating a character, you keep trying to make discoveries. Every rehearsal is different. That’s really where all the fun is – when you keep creating. You play with it and find out what works.”
Eaton has no problem summing up his feelings about acting: “I love it!”
Tickets to “The Fantasticks” are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, and $10 for children. Matinee seating is $10. For more information or tickets, call SGMT, 628-8755, or visit www.sgmt.org.

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