The character of Jackobean (Keith Childers) is shown in a scene with Gerard the Giant (Buddy Mercer) in the show “Jack, the Giant and the Enchanted Garden” being presented Sunday in Edinburgh.
Buddy Mercer’s character of the Gerard the Giant cuts a rather imposing figure of sorts in Fairy Tale Musical Theatre’s latest production.
Besides, Mercer is a bearded, brawny, 250-pound, 6-foot-2 hulk. But he never figured on giving a stage production such a big chunk of his time until longtime friend Michael Beavin convinced him last year that Mercer should be in a play.
“It was, well, I would say different (for me),” Mercer said with a laugh.
Same this year in Cecile Beavin’s original and whimsical 75-minute show, “Jack, the Giant and the Enchanted Garden” to be presented at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Pixy Theatre, 111 S. Walnut St. in Edinburgh. Beavin’s shows, featuring what others have called professional caliber costuming and sincere storytelling with a non-preachy, life lesson interwoven, have sometimes packed the Pixy in the past.
And though she frequently recruits theatrical newcomers such as Mercer, Beavin also is serious enough about a show to mandate a few consecutive days of rehearsal as the date of the curtain rising grows closer. Someone playfully asked Mercer if that much stage work eventually would make him worthy of a Tony Award nomination or somesuch. He laughed heartily.
“I don’t think I would go quite that far,” Mercer said.
The Columbus counselor and playwright’s story unfolds in an abandoned garden 20 years after Jack has cut down the beanstalk belonging to the Giant. She thought of such as she sat down to write for a simple reason.
“Oh, I always wanted to climb the beanstalk (as a child),” Beavin said.
In this story, the big guy spends most of his time out of sight while other characters mostly fear him, reasoning that he is still smoldering over Jack’s cutting things down to size.
“They’re all afraid of just what he might do,” Mercer said.
No need for such, as it turns out. And here we offer a spoiler alert.
“All the guy really wants is some jelly beans,” Mercer said.
Fair enough. So Mercer is asked if he himself likes jelly beans.
A thought. A pause.
“Listen — you don’t get a belly like I’ve got from being a picky eater,” he said.
Well, listen — there’s plenty more to the story and ample, mystical symbolism connecting to elements such as to the theater’s red velvet curtain backdrop. And Beavin remains true to form, offering a staggering smorgasbord of song clips while she plays piano, husband Michael sings and Monsignor Fred Easton plays fiddle in the show.
“He’s such a wonderful guy,” Beavin said.
Tunes range from the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” appropriately sung by the garden’s Beetlebalms, to Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade For Strings,” for Beavin has never met a musical mashup she cannot make work.
The production deals handily with transformations, as evidenced by the opening and closing number, “In the Bulb There is a Flower.” And sprouting hither and yon in Beavin’s not-so-secret garden is the language of the yin and yang of life: spring awaiting under a snow; butterflies forming in cocoons; an apple tree in a seed.
Promise planted centerstage, you might say.
Beavin, a former Benedictine Catholic nun, loves the writing process that she does for her shows each year.
“It is,” she said, “one of the most spiritual experiences I have.”
About the musical
What: Fairy Tale Musical Theatre’s presentation of the original play “Jack, the Giant and the Enchanted Garden.”
When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: The Pixy Theater, 111 S. Walnut St. in Edinburgh.
Admission: Donations of any amount to defray expenses at the Pixy.
