THEATER REVIEW / ‘THE FANTASTICKS’ : Popular Play Still Draws a Crowd : But after 30 years, a scene’s discussion of rape triggers an angry response from the audience.

It’s not often that a member of the audience rises to declare to the crowd, “This is offensive! This is disgusting!” But that’s exactly what happened during the first act of the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre production of “The Fantasticks” last week.

And the upset spectator was talking about the play, not the performances.

“The Fantasticks,” a musical romance, is one of the most durable properties in the history of American theater, continuously running in New York since its 1960 off-Broadway debut and a favorite among campus and community theater groups.

The Renee group performs the show under the direction of John Hulette at Ottavio’s Banquet Facility in Camarillo. Based on an 1894 work by Edmond Rostand (author of “Cyrano de Bergerac”), the play follows young lovers Luisa and Matt from the beginning of their young romance, through inevitable setbacks and on to--this is a great play for dates--a happy ending.

Next-door neighbors Luisa and Matt get together despite the objections of their fathers. When the romance begins to falter, an interested party hires an adventurer named El Gallo to pretend to abduct Luisa, whereupon, it is presumed, Matt will fight for her honor. El Gallo has been paid to lose, thus raising Matt’s stature with the girl.

While this play has entertained many thousands over 30 years, and while Rostand’s original has entertained for nearly a century, social consciousness has sharply adjusted since 1960. As a result, one sequence may cause severe discomfort: El Gallo insists that abduct and rape are synonymous (as they are in one archaic definition), and then sings a celebratory song, “It Depends on What You Pay.”

If one isn’t paying strict attention, it sounds as though El Gallo is proposing rape in the now generally accepted sense of sexual abuse--no doubt the source of the opening-night spectator’s ire. All that is suggested, though, and all that occurs is El Gallo’s pretending to carry the young woman away. But be warned.

Truth be told, Tom Jones’ script is awkward all the way through and his lyrics seldom rise above the level of doggerel, though he drops in a number of easily identifiable references from classical literature.

Meredith Johnston and Matt Reithmayr make an attractive Luisa and Matt. She’s a textbook musical-comedy ingenue with soprano voice to match (she played Laurie in the Camarillo Community Theatre production of “Oklahoma!”), while he’s appropriately gawky. And their voices blend nicely.

Lloyd D. Allen and Doug Matheson play the pair’s fathers and sing a couple of amusing songs, including “Never Say No,” about how to get what you want from your children.

Stealing the show every time they’re on are Martin Horsey and Rick Steinberg as a couple of roving players who get sucked into the story. Think of the players in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” after a couple pitchers of ale and you get the idea.

Debbie Probe, best known as a dancer and choreographer, is seen as The Mute, who helps out with and silently comments on the action from time to time; her presence is part of the overall carnival atmosphere of the show.

Gabriel Arciniega plays the central role of El Gallo, who also narrates the story. Like many members of the cast, he’s been seen in several companies around Ventura County and is here making his Faye Renee debut. A dashing figure and good singer, he makes what he can of the part, which includes the show’s big number, the banal and repetitive “Try to Remember,” which has become a standard among the Robert Goulet-Jim Nabors crowd.

A number of the players here, though veterans of the Ventura County community theater scene, are newcomers to the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre. Their presence promises even better productions in the future.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“The Fantasticks” continues weekends through June 26 at the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre at Ottavio’s Banquet Facility, 340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo. Dinner is served at 7 p.m., with curtain at 8. Tickets are $25 per person on Thursday and Friday nights, which includes a buffet dinner; $35 on Saturdays covers a served dinner. Ticket price includes dinner, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage, tax and gratuity, with a full cash bar available. For reservations or further information, call 484-9909.