The Penobscot Theatre Company is in no danger of bringing down its final curtain. In fact, the theater’s future is looking brighter every day, Producing Artistic Director Marc Torres told the opening night audience last week at PTC’s summer production of “The Fantasticks” in the Bangor Opera House.

He announced that in addition to the $30,000 grant from the city of Bangor, longtime arts supporter and local businessman Christopher Hutchins has pledged $30,000 to be matched by supporters. So far, PTC has raised nearly half of its $250,000 goal set in the Extraordinary Friends Campaign, an effort to put the company on sound financial footing.

Torres was joined Friday night by PTC founder George Vafiades, who now lives in northern California. Vafiades outlined the rich history of theater in Bangor, citing a performance of “Hamlet” in the 1890s by the man considered that century’s greatest actor – Edwin Booth.

Due to the company’s $80,000 debt, PTC in May canceled three plays – “As You Like It,” “Macbeth” and “Alice in Wonderland” – that along with “The Fantasticks” were to have made up the company’s 9th Maine Shakespeare Festival.

In another austere move, PTC has replaced its October production of “Moon Over Buffalo” with “Love Letters,” a two-person play starring Torres and Sharon Zolper, the former director of PTC’s educational programming.

If it could only keep one show this summer, the musical “The Fantasticks,” directed by Torres, was the perfect choice. With its minimal set requirements, small cast and “orchestra” of piano and harp, the production could be done inexpensively without looking cheap. It’s also a sweet and delightful story without being sappy or saccharine.

Written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, “The Fantasticks” ran for more than 40 years in the same theater in New York. The musical is a love story a la “Romeo and Juliet.” But instead of feuding families, two fathers create an elaborate pretense so that their son and daughter will fall in love. It works perfectly, but just as it appears that all’s well that ends well, the characters become dissatisfied and seek adventure before returning home for the essential happy ending.

Holly O’Brien, a New York-based actress, is delightfully dynamic as the young lover Luisa. She brings a vibrant intensity to the role that fills the theater and successfully avoids the annoying habits of adolescence.

O’Brien’s clear, bright and strong soprano lifts even the most cynical of hearts. She effortlessly layers songs such as “Much More” and “They Were You” with depth and nuance. The actress creates such a charming Everygirl, it’s impossible to resist falling in love with her Luisa.

Jeff Pagliano, who played Peter last year in “The Diary of Anne Frank,” is Matt, Luisa’s boy next door. Pagliano exudes all the unbridled, undirected energy of youth, and his bravado is sweet rather than bombastic. The New York-based actor is a good match for O’Brien until it’s time for a song.

But he is no match for O’Brien vocally. Perhaps if her soprano were not so perfect, Pagliano’s weaknesses would not be so obvious. The songs he sings alone, including “Metaphor,” almost work, but his duet “They Were You” and other songs with O’Brien were so off opening night, it was a relief when the final note was struck.

Local actors Rich Kimball and Adam Kuykendall portray the scheming fathers. Their comic timing is impeccable and their voices intertwine for a deep, rich harmony in “It Depends on What You Pay” and “Plant a Radish.” The two men create an indelible team and their solid performances anchor the production.

James Bocock and Jay Doolittle, both veterans of recent PTC productions, are hysterical as Mortimer and Henry, the actors hired to stage an abduction so Matt can “rescue” Luisa and be a hero in her eyes. Like the acting troupe in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” these two “actors” give new meaning to the term ham.

El Gallo is the character who weaves this delicate story into a beautiful tapestry for the audience. He is a cynical, swashbuckling, seductive manipulator – the kind of man who fathers warn their daughters against and pray their son will not become.

Josh Browns never fully inhabits the role, although his glib delivery garners laughs. While his El Gallo is smarmy, the actor never exudes enough charm to convince theatergoers that he could entice even the naive Luisa to trot across the globe with him.

Browns’ voice also is too limited for the role. He has neither the range nor the power to give the opening song, “Try to Remember,” the depth it demands and his duet “I Can See It” with Pagliano’s Matt is a disaster.

As simple as the play appears to be, its music is deceptively complex. Music Director Philip Burns and harpist Isleen Susan Halvorsen give the score surprising depth and a tender elegance that lingers long after the lights dim. Susan R. Smith’s costumes and Shawn Crawford’s scenic and lighting design serve the production well, although actors’ faces too often appear in shadow from some sections of the theater.

Despite a couple of flawed performances, Torres remains true to the soul of “The Fantasticks” and creates a production worth experiencing for the fine music, O’Brien’s impeccable soprano and the onstage antics of Kimball, Kuykendall, Doolittle and Bocock. With this production, PTC shows that while it still may be on the ropes financially, it is in pretty good fighting form artistically.

“The Fantasticks” will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. Saturdays through Aug. 9 at the Bangor Opera House. For information, call 942-3333.