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“TRY TO REMEMBER AND IF YOU REMEMBER THEN FOLLOW... ”The world of The Fantasticks is indeed an enchanted one. Audiences have been falling in love with this magical show for over 40 years. |
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Show History The FantasticksInduction into the Theatre Hall Of Fame. An Obie. The ASCAP-Richard Rodgers Award. A special Tony. Stars on the Off-Broadway Walk Of Fame. Tom Jones (no, not the Welsh one) and Harvey Schmidt have received just about every accolade there is for their musical, The Fantasticks. But considering its rocky start, no one would ever have predicted it. Jones and Schmidt met at the University of Texas in 1950, where they were majoring in theatre production and commercial art, respectively. They collaborated on a revue, called Hipsy-Boo!, directed by a friend, Word Baker. The three toyed with the idea of making a musical from Edmund Rostand's play, Les Romanesques. After college, Schmidt and Jones continued writing songs, even mailing each other tapes during their service in the Korean War. Upon discharge, they moved to New York where Schmidt became a successful commercial artist at NBC-TV's new color department, and Jones scraped together jobs directing and teaching. After having several addresses they rented a West Side apartment where Schmidt still lives today. The two authors envisioned their show as a big budget, Oklahoma! style Broadway musical, then in vogue. It was to be titled Joy Comes To Dead Horse, set on two adjoining ranches, one Spanish, one Anglo, complete with live horses on stage! Rostand's souffle of a play could not support such grandiose treatment, and Schmidt and Jones repeatedly failed to make the concept work. Meanwhile, Word Baker had accepted a job directing a student production of three one-act plays, to be overseen by actress Mildred Bannock at Barnard College's 1959 summer series at Minor Latham Playhouse. He went straight to Jones and Schmidt's apartment and offered them the chance for Joy Comes to Dead Horse to be produced - provided they could turn it into a one-act. The authors jumped at the challenge and threw out everything they had written except one song - "Try To Remember" - and wrote the basis of what would become The Fantasticks in only three weeks. By the night of the first dress rehearsal, a handful of producers were interested in seeing the show, including a mysterious man dressed completely in white who insisted on seeing that particular rehearsal. Jones and Schmidt despaired - the leading lady had laryngitis and bruised ribs, making both dancing and singing impossible, they weren't ready for the pressure of an audience. The man in white, Lore Noto, assured them he knew all about rehearsals, and after seeing the show told them he would bring it to Off-Broadway - provided they develop it into a more salable two-act show, and that they would keep him out of all the artistic decisions! "He said, 'I'll step in if you have a disagreement, but I want you to have creative control.' That's what made us go with him," Jones has said. The intimate Sullivan Street Playhouse was booked, but backers were slow to commit funds and the creative team auditioned actors in their apartment. The original cast eventually included three other U of Texas alumni, and a friend of Baker's - a 24 year old Jerry Orbach. Baker, Jones and Schmidt encouraged the cast to contribute ideas as they rewrote the show and created the second act. Ed Wittstein, whom Schmidt had met at NBC, came onboard as all-purpose designer - he would serve as costumer, set designer, prop master and lighting designer. Despite the fact that nearly everyone connected with the production had bought shares, and Noto had sunk his life savings into the show, it was still short $4000. Sheldon Miles Baron saw a notice that Noto was producing a new show and called to audition. When he learned the show was short money, he and his producing partner, Dorothy Olim, who ran the summer stock theatre Saranac Lake Comedy and Mystery Theater, saw the show and invested, despite Olim's reservations. With a budget of less than $1500 for set and costumes, Wittstein created a minimal, traveling-show style set with little more than a platform, a ladder, and a plywood cut-out moon. He raided the NBC costume shop for bits and pieces for El Gallo, the fathers, and the Old Actors, and used yards of China silk he'd kept from a Barnard production of Pericles. The title came from the original English translation of Rostand's play, which Schmidt was drawn to because of the distinctive extra K. Even the logo was an in-house creation - after looking at five choices of typeface, the creative team went with the spiky, unusual design that became so highly identified with The Fantasticks - it was Schmidt's own handwriting. Baker held the first public preview at midnight on April 23, 1960, so that New York's working actors could come see it after their shows. Although it was a smash that night with the theatre community, opening night suffered flop sweat. The audience, made up of critics, friends, and backers, was ominously quiet. Someone fell asleep and began snoring loudly. Charles McHarry, critic for the Daily News, left apologetically at intermission after his inebriated female companion had complained loudly throughout the first act that she didn't understand the show. The second act seemed off-kilter and curtain calls were tepid. Despite this, the reviewers didn't pan the show.but they didn't rave either. They were so lukewarm that Noto was advised at the opening night party to consider closing the show - The Fantasticks would be competing for ticket buyers with Gypsy (starring Ethel Merman), Once Upon A Mattress (starring Carol Burnett), The Music Man, My Fair Lady, and A Raisin In The Sun. Noto, however, believed in his tiny musical, and vowed to scrape together more money to keep it running. The first three months were dicey, with the show losing money steadily, sometimes there were no more than four patrons in the audience. But word of mouth developed as fans like Ann Bancroft used their influence to help The Fantasticks find its audience. Noto also took the unusual step of going on abeyance, moving the entire show to East Hampton's Guild Hall for an eight-show run, because "the right people will see it." He was right - people who wouldn't dream of slumming down to the Village gladly went to the Hamptons for the show and equally gladly spread the word upon returning to the City. In the next four months, the little-show-that-could earned back its entire investment. Amazingly, once it got its footing, the show ran, and ran, and ran. It has been staged more than 11,000 times in more than 2000 cities in every U.S. state. It has been exported to more than 67 countries. Over the more than 40 years it ran at Sullivan Street Playhouse, its cast has included Glenn Close, Liza Minnelli, Richard Chamberlain, and Ricardo Montalban. It finally closed, in January 2002, after 17,162 performances, making it the world's longest running musical. Those connected with the show continued in successful careers, although nothing else ever achieved the magic and serendipity of The Fantasticks. Olim became president of ATPAM, the press agents and managers' union. Baron gave up showbusiness for sculpting under the name S. Miles Baron. Baker was in demand around the world as a director, although he never worked with Schmidt and Jones again. Schmidt and Jones wrote other shows, including I Do! I Do! and 110 In The Shade, both produced on Broadway. Noto attempted another production, based on The Yearling, but when it failed, he devoted himself entirely to The Fantasticks, even playing Hucklebee some 6,000 times. He tried to close the show in 1986, but his fellow backers refused to allow it and he retired. The man whose vision and belief in The Fantasticks kept the project alive, died a few months after the show closed in 2002, as if they could not exist without each other.
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STEVE BRADY (Hucklebee) is quite pleased to be making his Gateway Playhouse Debut. finally! Attempts at theatrical glory include The National Tour of The Exonerated, with Lynn Redgrave and Robin Williams; Enigma Variations with Donald Sutherland in Toronto; and String Fever (Helen Hayes Nomination) at Theatre J, in Washington DC. He's also had hours of crossword puzzle time at Cincinnati Playhouse, Wilma Theatre, Papermill Playhouse, Charlotte Rep., Irish Arts Center, Arden Theatre, Mill Mountain, Provincetown Playhouse, Allenberry and others. Exciting television appearances include Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Haven't We Seen This?, Seinfeld, Late Show with David Letterman, Spin City, Beverly Hills 90210 and more. Steve lives in New York City with his rabbit-eared television and life size poster of John Wayne. 
DAN COONEY (El Gallo) is very happy to be back at The Gateway Playhouse where he was last seen as Bill Sykes in Oliver! Broadway: Les Misérables. Off-Broadway: The Thing About Men, Once Around the Sun, Under the Bridge. Nat'l Tours: the First National Tours of Les Misérables and Frank Wildhorn's The Civil War, Evita (Che), Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik). Regional: Never More (Poe, Signature Theatre) World Premiere, Measure for Measure (Lucio, Yale Rep.) Company (Peter, the Kennedy Center); The Last Five Years (Round Table Rep.); Carousel (Billy) at Connecticut Rep; Evita (Che) at Papermill Playhouse, the Muny, Theatre Under the Stars, Gateway Playhouse; Jesus Christ Superstar (Judas, Maine State Music Theatre), (Herod, Gateway Playhouse). Dan is a 1999 graduate of the Yale School of Drama. 
NEAL EVERETT (The Mute) is from Los Angeles, CA where he is an aerial artist. He has appeared in several shows for various circus theaters which include Eye of Newt Circus and Cirque Berzerk, where he directed A Circus Cabaret. He is also a coach and choreographer for aerialists and contortionists. Neal has appeared onstage as an actor and dancer in productions
of A Chorus Line, Swan Lake, Carmina Burana, and more. Neal has
also made numerous appearances on film and television to include Terminator 3, The Storyteller, Star Trek Enterprise, and Will and Grace. He recently choreographed the aerialists for AT&T's newest commercial campaign. Neal holds a BA in Dance and Biology from the University of Arizona.
BOB FRESCHI (Bellomy) has appeared on Broadway in The Most Happy Fella, Abe Lincoln in ILLinois (Lincoln Center), Me and My Girl, Little Me, The 1940's Radio Hour, the original Annie, Irene and most recently 70 Girls 70 at City Center ENCORES. Bob has performed in regional theatres throughout the country including the Doolittle Theatre in L.A., Goodspeed Opera House, Yale Rep., Coconut Grove Playhouse and Kennedy Center. Some favorite roles include Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Max in The Sound of Music, Herbie in Gypsy and Papa in Meet Me in St. Louis.
JULIANA ASHLEY HANSEN (Louisa) Juliana is thrilled to be making her Gateway Playhouse debut in The Fantasticks, a role she has long dreamt of playing! Later this summer, she'll be playing the role of Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast at Forestburgh Playhouse. Between 2003-2004 Juliana entertained audiences across the country in Thoroughly Modern Millie - 1st National Tour (Millie u/s, Gloria), in which she performed the title role several times. Other favorite credits include Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Sacramento Music Circus and CLO SouthBay), Ariel in Footloose (Stages St Louis), Jennifer in Paint Your Wagon (Music Circus), Kim MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, Kitten in Last Dance (AEA Workshop) and Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, for which she won a Dramalogue Award. When she's not performing in musical theatre, Juliana can be seen playing guitar and rocking out across the country with Bruce in the USA - a Vegas based Bruce Springsteen Tribute band. She can be heard on numerous recordings for Fynsworth Alley and LML Music, including Everyone Has a Story, Unsung Schmidt and Jones, Sondheim - a Stephen Sondheim Album and New Guy in Town (produced by Bruce Kimmel). She can also be heard as lead dinosaur Ali in The Land Before Time IV and had the pleasure of working with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz on Disney's Pocahontas. Juliana wishes to thank everyone at Abrams Artists, Bruce Kolb, and God, and she dedicates this show to her wonderful parents in California - the first show they'll not be able to attend.
ROBERT R. OLIVER (Mortimer) is a veteran of Off-B'way and has appeared in its two longest-running hits-Tony n' Tina's Wedding, and The Fantasticks (which he also taped for Lincoln Center Archives). With more than 70 productions to his credit, Robert has performed on radio, television, film, cruise ships, dinner theaters, tours, etc. Some of his favorite roles are Pete in Girl Crazy (with Lorna Luft), Hysterium in A Funny Thing. Forum (for which he received a Carbonell Award Honorable Mention), and Doolittle in My Fair Lady, among others. Watch for him in the upcoming feature film "LBS" which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
GEDDETH SMITH (Henry) was last seen at the Gateway Playhouse as Mr. Lundie in Brigadoon. He recently played Merryman in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Importance of Being Earnest at BAM. Broadway: Waiting in the Wings, Alice in Wonderland, The Imaginary Invalid, Tonight at 8:30, A Touch of the Poet. Off Broadway: Irish Repertory Theatre (Philadelphia, Here I Come, The Shaughraun, Shadow of a Gunman). Regional: Cleveland Playhouse (Otto Boltzman in world premiere of Restoring the Sun), Geva Theatre Center (Matt Haffigan in John Bull's Other Island), Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (John of Gaunt in Richard II), Huntington Theatre Company (Elder Piper in The Sons of Ulster); also Hartford Stage Company, Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, et al. in a wide variety of parts, over fifty of them in Shakespeare's plays. Television: Man Without a Country, Milligan, Blue Hotel, among others. Affiliate Artist with the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and the author of two biographies of 19th century American actors: The Brief Career of Eliza Poe and Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, America's Premier Tragedian.
NICK SPANGLER (Matt) is currently earning his B.F.A. in musical theatre at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. A native Californian, Nick's past credits include: Bat Boy in Bat Boy: The Musical, Zack Morris in Saved by the Bell: The Musical, Sparky in Forever Plaid, Tommy in The Who's Tommy, and Riff in West Side Story. In his upcoming final year at NYU, Nick is excited to have been cast as Jamie in Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. 