Plain and Fancy Preface

Joseph Stein was kind enough to write the preface for the 20th anniversary of Plain and Fancy theatre program. The April 18 opening date is just around the corner.

"It s a wonder! That a musical can continue to play successfully in one theatre for twenty years is truly astounding, and it is not only a tribute to the show itself, but even more, to the theater, to the consistently high quality of its work.

So I want to congratulate the producers, the cast, the technical staff, all those who have made this theatrical miracle happen.

When I saw Plain and Fancy at Amish Acres, some years ago, I was delighted, not only that it played so well and that the audience accepted it so warmly, but that a show originally produced in the 1950’s seemed so timeless and did not show its age.

Of all the shows I’ve worked on, I have a special fondness for Plain and Fancy. For one thing, it was my first musical, and it was a totally happy experience and a commercially successful one. But more than that, I have since come to realize that, in a strange and psychologically mysterious way that show anticipated and influenced the creation of Fiddler on the Roof.

Both shows, I increasingly came to realize, share many of the same themes, same motivations, even some similar characters. Of course Plain and Fancy is much more light-hearted and Fiddler is more serious in tone, but both shows deal with the identical themes:…the conflict of cultures…the power of tradition ….the struggle between the older and younger generations…the “new” attitudes towards love…the shunning of the “sinner”…all treated more lightly perhaps in the early show (which has a typical happy ending)…but are similar to the motivations that exist in Fiddler. So I have a very special reason to be fond of Plain and Fancy.

So. Once again. my congratulations and my gratitude to Amish Acres for keeping Plain and Fancy as alive and happy and charming as ever."