Here's the synopsis:

The Fantasticks is a riff on the Romeo and Juliet story, with a musical twist. The show is narrated by the character of El Gallo, who steps in and out of the story itself.  Two Fathers who live next door to one another have agreed that their children should marry. Knowing their children would never agree to a pre-arranged engagement, though, the fathers have pretended to feud with each other. They've even built a "wall" (played by "The Mute," a dancer) to indicate that their children are never to meet. Naturally, The Boy and The Girl fall in love and plan to elope. To seal the deal, the two fathers hire a seedy acting troupe to pretend to kidnap the Girl. A very silly "abduction" ends with the Boy apparently rescuing the Girl. The two embrace under a perfect moon. Act 1 ends. As Act 2 begins, the characters begin to notice that all is not as perfect during the day as under the moon. The Fathers squabble, and the Boy and Girl begin to wonder whether they are really ready for marriage. The Boy takes off to seek his fortune, while the Girl daydreams about the handsome El Gallo. El Gallo shows The Girl what the real world is like, and offers her a life of dissipation.

In the end, the Boy and the Girl recognize that their love for one another is most important, and they reunite.

Check out a short promotional video at this link:  http://vimeo.com/35672578

Tickets

 $16 for adults

The Holiday Spirit Comes to Falmouth

by Maxwell Carey

Falmouth Holidays by the Sea Weekend Events:

What?  There's More?

Come join in the fun!  If you don't live in Falmouth, come see what living here is all about.

A case in point is a closing that took place yesterday. When I was meeting with the seller about listing her beautiful condo, the seller had a price in mind that was considerably above the fair market value that I had determined. I suggested that she have an appraisal done so that we would have an independent third party view of the property value. Another good reason to have an appraisal done is that there will be a day of reckoning when the bank appraisal is conducted after the home is under contract. No matter how much the prospective buyer loves the home, if the home does not "appraise," there is no sale.

After the appraisal came in, the seller listed the home and priced it accordingly. The condo sold in 65 days at the appraised value to a couple who had been scouting the market for over two years. They knew that the home was priced right and was a good value in this market.

• The National Association of Realtors reports that, nationally, sales of existing homes rose 3.7% in March, but were down 6.3% from March 2010. First time buyers purchased 33% of homes this March compared with 44% of homes in March last year.
• Also from NAR, existing home sales in the Northeast rose 3.9% in March, down 12.1% from March last year. The median price was 3% lower at $232,900.
• The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reports that single family sales in Massachusetts were down 22.4% in March compared with March 2010 and median prices dropped 2.3% to $273,474. Condo sales dropped 23.5% in March 2011 compared with March 2010 and median price dropped 8.4% to $234,500.
• According to the Cape and Islands Association of Realtors, single family sales in Barnstable County in March were down 14.98% and the median dropped 11.73% to $315,016 from March last year. Condo sales dropped 20.75% and the median dropped 14.24% to $198,588.

Nationally, however, there is some evidence that we have returned to some semblance of normal. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors presented a graph at its national convention in November. It showed the trend line for home sales since 1990 indicating that with the 2004-2007 bubble removed, we are now back to "normal" growth levels.

The general feeling is that we have reached the bottom of the real estate market crisis but it is a "mushy bottom." Just when you think that you are on solid ground, something will change. But the precipitous fall is over.