The always-impressive Prospect Theater Company is at it again with a promising new musical called THE ALCHEMISTS. The title hints at the oft-performed experiment, an attempt to transform base lead into precious gold, but really refers to the ultimate futures of five youngsters who, onstage, coexist as young teens and adults.

THE ALCHEMISTS, running a healthy two and a half hours or more, seems to fly by in a veil of song and intellectual debate. Where some tunes are merely satisfactory, the majority are quite good, if not at the pinnacle of artistic achievement. Written with purpose and passion, each song serves to propel the plot, the discourse, and expose the inner thoughts of the many, many players. While the score and book are nice, the fabulous set, and a few choice performances make the most impact. Though the actors generally get lost in the crowd, a few get the chance to shine, however fleeting those golden moments may be.

An ambitious undertaking, a period-piece musical with a company of this size in a space nary big enough to hold them all, THE ALCHEMISTS does succeed in portraying a sense of childhood wonderment that is generally lost by young adulthood. By showing the five children as both youths and adults, we experience the tricks that time play on the spirit, on destiny, and even on morality. The five children, two sets of brothers and one orphaned girl, form the center. Two boys are the masters’ sons, and the other pair sons of a clergyman. All four, Stanley, Nicholas, Nathaniel and Marcus, find a variable muse in the form of Anne. One loves her, one wants to wed her, one is obsessed, and the other is "an artist" (wink, wink). The alchemy part comes in as they grow up and take on new roles, as other suffer terrible ends.

In the end THE ALCHEMISTS gets an A for effort!

- Kessa De Santis -

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