Review: Arts in Motion's Production of TUCK EVERLASTING at the IPAC

Watching Arts in Motions’ beautiful production of Tuck Everlasting on Friday night, I was unprepared for the emotional wallop of its ending.  I knew its basic plotline: A family drinks from a magical spring that grants them immortality, and a young runaway girl teeters on whether or not to join them in their everlasting fate.  I knew its basic production history: That the musical didn’t last long on Broadway’s competitive market in 2016 but has since grown as a cult hit with many school shows and community theatre productions proliferating.  And I knew the previous shows of its musical creators: The talented Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen, both responsible for two of the most underrated musical gems of our time (The Burnt-Part Boys and Fugitive Songs).

But the musical version of Tuck Everlasting started off rocky.  The story seemed all over the place, with unnecessary songs and a forgettable score that slowed the pace, and a disjointed book that never quite knew which tale or character to focus on. It seemed confusing at best.  But then something magical occurred in Act 2, and all of a sudden I was whisked away into the land of enchantment and sadness and got a deeper and more meaningful experience than I had ever planned for.  Like the ending of La La Land, with its unspoken musical sequence, Tuck Everlasting ends with an extended ballet/pantomime that took my breath away. It told its story so bravely and purely, and with it, its theme hit home: The sad truth of immortality is that you will always watch those outsiders that you come to know and love die, each and every one of them.  That’s why a long life is both a blessing and a curse; everyone you come in contact with exits this mortal coil before you do. 

If the rest of the musical was at the level of that emotionally wrenching and yet whimsical final sequence, Tuck Everlasting would have lived a much longer life on Broadway.

Tuck Everlasting plays like a Twilight Zone episode mixed with the downhome rusticism of The Waltons. 

The show centers on young Winnie Foster, an 11-year-old who yearns for a life bigger than the one in her drab hometown in the late 1800s.  She runs away and meets 17-year-old Jesse Tuck, whose family (we learn) drinks from a spring that has given them the “gift” of immortality.  Winnie hangs with the Tuck family, while a creepy carny, the Man in the Yellow Suit, tries to unearth the secret of their immortality for profit.  This ultimately ends with the Man in the Yellow Suit’s death. Winnie almost drinks from the spring, but in the end, realizes that being human, being mortal, would be far more fulfilling.  Living a full life.  And the show ends with her life—performed as a ballet—where she grows up, marries, loses loved ones, grows old, and dies.  But she lived a full life, unlike the Tuck family, whose everlasting curse causes them to never see death but also, sadly, to never see or experience a fully lived life.

The Arts in Motion group (officially known as the Community Youth Theater Arts Education, Inc.) have mounted a gorgeous production of this flawed but incredibly moving musical at the Instructional Performing Arts Center (the IPAC) in Wesley Chapel.

With the students as young as 5 and as old as 18, Arts in Motion is one of our area’s treasures for young performers.  Their productions cost between $30,000 and $35,000, and you see where the money goes: Brilliant set pieces, wondrous and colorful costumes, lots of props (not to mention a large village of parents helping backstage, all of whom were recognized onstage after the show). 

As for the large cast, these are some of the most talented youngsters in our area, each child pouring his or her heart into the work.  This passionate group doesn’t miss an entrance.  And if a prop goes awry (or even breaks, like on the night I saw the show), they keep on going like true professionals.   

Heading this talented team is Tatiana Booker as Winnie on the night I experienced the show. (Performing in the same role on a different night was Layla Ford.)  Donned with a long red Pippi Longstocking wig, she has a remarkable voice (with a terrific belt) on such songs as “Good Girl, Winnie Foster”  and “Everlasting.”  She’s such a spunky spark of electricity that the show lists a little whenever she’s not onstage. 

Just as strong is Arik Drullard as Jessie.  Mr. Drullard, so memorable in The Little Mermaid last year, is such a strong presence here, a true standout, and we feel the sadness of immortality from him.  We also feel his bond with Winnie and the joyous hope that she will become immortal when she turns seventeen. This is a key plot point that feels quite cringy if you imagine Jessie, who was 17 when he first drank from the spring but is now 102 years old, and Winnie is just 11; it makes sense in the context of the show—Jessie is waiting for Winnie to turn 17 so she can become immortal like he is and they can rightfully fall in love--but it still comes across rather creepy when you think back on it. 

As the Man in the Yellow Suit, Tucker Oyler makes the most of his part’s oily villainy, almost becoming a walking cartoon character (you can imagine him in an old Hanna-Barbera series like a menacing Dick Dastardly in a sunshiny suit).

As the Tuck family, Abby Harlow, Gavin Hinton and Warner Ford do very nice jobs, capturing the bittersweet plight of the never-dead. They sing well and anchor the show, a real downhome family…with a key secret. They live lives of both regret and magic, and we truly get a sense that they are a family.

Jaidon Delgado has good moments as Mother Foster, and Eden Drovandi does well as Nana Foster, though it was sometimes hard to hear some of her lines of dialogue.

Davey Johnson makes for a noticeably young Constable Joe, but he’s such a strong presence onstage, a showstopper who commands the audience’s attention.  Speaking of showstoppers, Rhys Ricardo makes for a wonderful Hugo, the boy who will grow up to be the man Winnie eventually marries. 

The talented Lennon Schaffer, Anni Norland and Sarah Hoerbelt captures the various stages of Winnie’s life in the memorable closing dance number.  And Orrin Schaeffer has his moment to shine as a carny.

Raphaela Ricardo and Ruby Ricardo steal the show with their amazing gymnastics in “Partner in Crime,” flipping across the stage, walking on their hands, with the audience so caught up in their actions that they clapped along. I could watch the antics of these two stars for hours. And five-year-old Rocco Ricardo makes his stage debut, owning the stage at such a young age like a true trouper.

The rest of the cast does quite nicely as well: Maisie Erven, Aleeyah Guynn, Julia Williams, Aubrey Ford, Kenzie Pavone, Violet Ruck, Adelynn Butterfield, Oaklynn Butterfield, Vayda Drovandi, Avianna Glover, Kinsley Howard, Alyssa Kennedy, Emma Kohan, Juleah Miller, Audrey Suarez and of course Rio Ricardo

The singing is overall quite good, thanks to music director Eri Smith.  The set design, featuring mammoth Giocometti-like trees and a treehouse that I want to play in, is simply astonishing (or not so simply, since the set pieces are pretty elaborate and take various adults to move on and off).  The costumes suited the time period , and the lighting worked well. 

What may be most inspiring is that this production marks the directorial debut of Michael Anthony D’Aquino.  I have seen Mr. D’Aquino’s wonderful choreography in previous AIM shows, and he really does amazingly well in the director’s chair, guiding a difficult but very strong show.  The musical is well-paced, and even if there are questions in the storytelling and in the sameness of some of the songs  (especially in Act 1), the entire musical whizzes by (kind of like the way life does).

The ending of Tuck Everlasting got me.  I had to wipe away tears because the message was so powerful.  At one point in the play, a character asks, “Who would pay a fortune for a sip of forever?”  It sounds like a good idea, living forever without the fear of death, no matter what happens to you, even if you’re shot through the heart (and you’re to blame).  But it’s also a trap, because time may be mankind’s enemy but it’s also mankind’s engine—it keeps us galvanized, moving forward.  Without the idea of mortality to move us, we just may meander, and life loses so much of its zest and so much of its deeper meaning. 

That’s what I took away from AIM’s production of Tuck Everlasting—that we should feel lucky to be alive, thankful to be mortal.  Any show that can do that, even if it’s just in the last twenty minutes, will always hold a special place in my heart.

Arts in Motion’s TUCK EVERLASTING ended its run at the IPAC on Saturday, May 9th.        

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