Cottage Theatre stages Broadway hit.

Byline: The Register-Guard

An old standby Broadway musical, a new 1960s rock musical and a one-man show by a well-known outdoor writer are coming to Eugene area stages in the coming week.

OPENING THIS WEEK

The Fantasticks

Cottage Theatre

Friday-April 28

If you're old enough, you might "Try to Remember" the first time you saw or heard music from this Broadway standby, which opened in 1960 with a young Jerry Orbach playing El Gallo.

The show, a small-town love story, ran for 42 years at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City.

On Friday, Cottage Theatre opens a production of ``The Fantasticks'' for a three-weekend run.

The local cast is directed by Becky Croson-LaChappelle and features Kevin Kelley as El Gallo, Ashley Clarke as Luisa and Jonathan Heritage as Matt. Also in the cast are Gloria Vanderhorst, Jim Curtiss, Karen Synder, Larry Brown and Lindy Lou Smith.

The show begins at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and April 20, 21, 27 and 28. There will be 2:30 p.m. matinees on Sunday and April 21, 22 and 28. Advance tickets are $18; call 942-8001.

Cottage Theatre is at 700 Village Drive in Cottage Grove.

A Fine and Pleasant Misery

A fundraiser, at Wildish

Community Theater

Friday through Sunday

Humorist Patrick McManus is both author and subject of this one-man show, which will feature actor Tim Behrens as the Outdoor Life magazine writer in a series of sketches that involve a host of other characters.

McManus' tales relate the proper form of panicking, how to brush the taste of dog off your teeth and what happens when you and a deer try to ride a bicycle not built for two.

Show time is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday at Wildish Community Theater, 630 Main St., Springfield.

The performances will raise money for the Hearing Loss Association of Lane County. Real-time captioning will be available for the hard of hearing.

Tickets are $22 for adults and $17 for students at www.ticketswest.com or 800-922-TIXX.

Your Own Thing

North Eugene High School

Tonight through April 22

This original 1960s-style rock musical takes off from William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and keeps going from there.

The show, performed by North Eugene High School students, is set in and around a New York City disco where a group of young musicians sort out their notions of identity in search of love and peace while doing their own thing.

The cast includes Chad Campbell, Callie Coles, Kristina Davis, Helen Long, Myles Long, Illyia Lozowick, Heather Spickard, Ryan Vermillyea and Dylan Walker. Heather Spickard is also assisting director Fred Gorelick.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday and on April 19-22; matinees begin at 3 p.m. Sunday and April 22. Tickets are $8, $6 for students, at the door. North Eugene High School is at 200 Silver Lane.