Photo:

Kenn McLaughlin is sitting in the balcony of Stages’ Sterling Theatre in the new, $35 million Gordy building Monday afternoon, deep in conversation about the building’s opening show, “The Fantasticks,” when he lets out a sound you’d more often hear from a birthday boy seeing a cake.

“Yaaaaaaaaay!”

McLaughlin throws his hands together for 10 fast, loud, excited claps.

“Sorry,” he says. “That giant drop just went down to the floor, which is a trick we’re trying to get right, and they just got it.”

McLaughlin, artistic director of Stages – which opens its first production next Thursday – has been prone to bursts of enthusiasm ever since the 66,850-square-foot Gordy opened Jan. 18. As director of “The Fantasticks,” McLaughlin is working with a bigger, better and more spacious theater than ever before – and watching the theater company accomplish feats, like the curtain drop, that never would have been possible in their former building.

As he speaks, the high-pitched beep of machinery pierces the room. You can hear hammering and the moving of large equipment. The still-unfinished set, consisting of large sails and curtains as well as two wooden centerpieces, is moving and unfolding in real time as the crew puts the finishing touches up for a run-through later that night.

This is the last week of rehearsals – and set building – for “The Fantasticks,” and the cast and crew at Stages share McLaughlin’s effervescent energy.

“This is a dream come true,” says actor Kiaya Scott, who stars in the play as the girl-next-door Luisa.

Designed for theater

After all, the Sterling Stage isn’t just a bigger theater that holds more people. Compared to Stages’ former building – originally a ring-engraving factory that was repurposed for theater – every square inch of the Sterling was designed for theater. Actors have better angles to work with. Designers have more space to create lush sets.

The vibe of the theater is sleeker and more spacious – think the difference between the feel of a cramped one-bedroom apartment versus a home with a high ceiling.

The sheer height of the two-tier Sterling is indeed impressive, drawing the eye upward the same way a giant Roman statue or Richard Serra sculpture does.

“That’s the thrilling thing about this new space,” says longtime Houston actor Paul Hope, who plays the aging actor Henry. “With a low ceiling, you can’t do sets with any sort of height. When everyone’s playing at sea level for a while, there are no surprises, visually. Try doing shows for 30 years with no staircases.”

Mitchell Greco, artistic associate for Stages, agrees. “It even affects the programming. Kenn saw (Broadway hit) ‘The Humans’ a few years ago and loved it. But we couldn’t do it because it requires a two-level set.”

But that’s not to say the Sterling Stage is meant only for showy, set-piece-driven productions. The 251-seat theater can still serve small, intimate shows, which is why it works for the traditionally minimalist “The Fantasticks,” says scenic designer Laura Hawkes.

“That space works if you just had one person in there,” she says. “Being a designer, it’s tempting to fill it with environment. There’s a depth to it. There are different configurations of height. When you put someone on stairs, they can talk to the balcony level. You can give certain audience members an advantage at different times. I look forward to keep on reinventing it.”

Blending old and new

“The Fantasticks,” the 1960 musical by composer Harvey Schmidt and lyricist Tom Jones about two fathers who pretend to fight to get their children, Matt and Luisa, to fall for each other, symbolizes several of Stages’ strengths of a theater company.

It’s a crowd-pleaser – after all, it’s the longest-running musical in history – but it isn’t overly big and expensive like a Broadway production.

It’s a well-known entity and a love story, making it an easy ticket purchase for casual theatergoers – but McLaughlin says he’s worked hard with “Fantasticks” writer Jones to modernize the play and put the focus on the play’s female lead.

McLaughlin says he wanted to capture the small-scale feeling of the original “Fantasticks,” but also commemorate that Stages now has a brand-new theater to show off.

“The drop you see going up” – the director gestures towards a giant purple banner in the back of the stage, bearing the name of the show – “is an homage to the original production, but probably 30 times the size,” he says. “What happens with this play in this room now? How do we make it true to this moment, which is a brand-new space for Houston? Those questions became our guiding principles.”

wchen@chron.com

twitter.com/weihuanchen

“The Fantasticks” When: Friday through March 15 Where: Stages’ Sterling Theatre, 800 Rosine Details: $25 and up; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com