User talk:FANTASIZE(musical)

FANTASIZE is a 2004 musical, starring Eliza Jobs, Natasha Thompson, Kevin Zegers, Zac Efron and Natalie Thompson.

Act 1
The story starts after a funeral. Janessa (Natasha Thompson) and Norman (Kevin Zegers) bump into eachother. Janessa recognizes Norman, but he doesn't recognize her. She begs him to remember her. They sit and talk together, as Janessa hopes this will refresh his memory of her.

Story
Louisa (Eliza Jobs), a blind girl, is in the street on the floor, searching for something she's dropped. A crowd of people watches and gossips about her. They walk away, and Norman enters ("Dancing Through Life"). He sees Louisa and helps her collect her things from the floor, realising she is blind. He helps her back to her garret, and helps her around the house.

Infatuated, Louisa asks him if he'd like to stay the night and, with no other place to stay, he eagerly agrees.

Meanwhile, in the Above, half-witch Janessa (Natasha Thompson) sings to her half-witch brother Ruben (Zac Efron), trying to cheer him up. He remains miserable, however. Her witch-Aunts then command her to watch Below (Earth) and she does so, seeing Norman and falling in love with him instantly.

Although Louisa cannot see Norman, she falls in love with his kindness and, when he leaves the next day she fantasizes about him. Above, Janessa also fantasizes about Norman and life on Earth.

She is thrilled when her scheming Aunts, Rowena and Corella, assign her to Earth. Unaware they are planning to take over the human race, she introduces herself to Norman, not knowing the danger she is getting herself into. Norman instantly falls for Janessa and they talk ("Rose").

Norman once more bumps into Louisa, and they talk. Not realising she loves him, Norman tells Louisa all about Janessa, not noticing how heartbroken she is. He leaves, and she fantasizes about what it would be like to see him ("Breathe Me").

Saddened, she still loves him. When Corella and Rowena overhear Janessa talking about Norman, they plan to use him to gain Janessa's power, which is stronger than theirs because it was feulled by human life.

The next day, Janessa confesses to Norman she is a half-witch, which he doesn't believe. Janessa then leads him up to Above, where she shows him the Cesamy, the spell book. When he still doesn't believe her, she casts a spell. He finally believes her, and accepts her. Happy, the pair kiss ("As Long As You're Mine"/"Breathe Me (reprise)").

Janessa watches from Above and learns that Louisa loves Norman. Guilt-ridden, she tries to talk to Louisa but she doesn't listen. Hurt, Louisa flees. Meanwhile, Ruben watches from above and slowly falls for Louisa ("Shattered"). For the first time ever, he goes to Earth.

He introduces himself to Louisa, who is initially suspicious of him. She gradually warms to him, and they kiss ("Love Me for Me"). Louisa learns from Ruben that Janessa is a witch ("Outta My Head") and, horrified, follows the sound of Janessa's footsteps to Above, where she overhears Rowena and Corella plotting the destruction of the Earth. Disgusted, she returns and tells Norman Ruben and Janessa's plans. He shuns Janessa, despite her innocence.

With nothing to live for, Janessa agrees to help Rowena and Corella, not realising it will kill Norman and reduce her of her powers. When she learns this, she refuses. They create a new love for Norman, Helena, wiping his memory of Janessa ("Helena"). Saddened, Janessa gives up her powers, along with Ruben.

Act 2
Louisa realises something is wrong when Norman doesn't remember her, and asks Janessa about it. She reveals she knows her secret, but Janessa says Norman already knew and she would never hurt him. When Louisa says she overheard Rowena and Corella's plan, she confronts her Aunts, who lock her up, powerless.

Louisa realises Ruben and Norman are in danger, and goes to Above ("No Good Deed"). She finds the Cesamy, which causes her to see. Overjoyed, Louisa is forced to choose between her sight and helping her love rival ("Who Am I To Say"). She chooses to lose her sight, and gives Janessa and Ruben their power back, just as Norman enters (if she'd have waited or made the wrong decision, she would have been able to see the person she loved).

Louisa destroys the Cesamy, killing Rowena and Corella. She leaves, but is stopped by Ruben, who kisses her. Helena disappears, and Janessa and Norman lead separate lives alone (because Louisa destroyed the Cesamy, Norman still doesn't remember Janessa, although he saw Louisa so he remembers her).

Ending
Back at the funeral, Norman says he still doesn't remember Janessa, but says it was nice talking to her. She walks away sadly, but he stops her, and she turns around and he kisses her passionately. He then whispers, "How can I forget?" They kiss again, and the curtain closes.

Cast

 * Eliza Jobs as Louisa
 * Natasha Thompson as Janessa Rose#
 * Kevin Zegers as Norman*
 * Zac Efron as Ruben
 * Joanna Evans as Helena
 * Josephine Daniels as Rowena
 * Molly Queen as Corella


 * 1) In the 2010 tour, Drew Seeley will play Norman and Natalie Thompson will play Janessa.

Soundtrack
The official soundtrack was released June 7th, 2004.


 * Standard Edition

Promotion
In promotion for the 2005 tour, Natalie Thompson and Eliza Jobs released a single, You Gotta Believe, which was written by pop band GK.

In 2009, Natalie, Eliza, Zac and Kevin filmed an official trailer for the 2010 tour, despite Kevin only participating for a month. In the trailer, Louisa (Eliza) raises her head and her eyes glow. Scenes featuring Janessa, Norman, Ruben and Louisa then flash; she closes her eyes and the trailer fades out to white.

Natalie confirmed she, Eliza, Zac and Kevin will be releasing a song, I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. They will appear on Live With Lewis and The Paul O'Grady show later in 2009 to promote the song and the 2010 tour.

Natalie and Kevin teamed up to appear on the 2009 Celebrity Sports Challenge USA. They came sixth.

Reception
The musical recieved overwhelmingly positive reviews from top critics across the country. The reaction was so positive every show had at least three encores at the end.

The reviews were so good, the cast and crew felt obliged to tour the UK. All over the world, FANTASIZE became known, although it wasn't performed anywhere else except the United Kingdom.

Popularity
The musical has been done several times, without the original cast, due to its increasing popularity.

Eliza Jobs, Kevin Zegers, Natasha Thompson and Zac Efron all won awards at the UK 2004 TV Awards. Natasha won Best Actress, Eliza won Best Performance from a Newcomer, Zac won Best Supporting Actor and Kevin won Best Actor. The love triangle won Best Love Story, and the show won Best Musical and Best Original Soundtrack. In an online poll, 96% of people said they would like to see the musical on DVD.

In 2005, the crew won Best Musical and the cast won Best Acting Team at the UK 2005 TV Awards.

In 2007, despite it being two years since they performed together, the team won a shared award of Best Love Square and Best Romeo and Juliet Story.

Tours
The first tour was with the original cast in 2005. This lasted from June to October.

The second tour will be a yearly tour in 2010. It will star Natalie Thompson as Janessa and Drew Seeley as Norman. It will be a worldwide tour.