Photo Coverage Exclusive: The Fantasticks' Nick Spangler Takes An 'Amazing Race' 2008/09/09

The Fantasticks star Nick Spangler is about to take the greatest adventure of his life as he becomes a competitor on the 13th season of the hit CBS reality series, ‘The Amazing Race’, joining him as his teammate will be his sister, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Starr Spangler.

Nick and Starr have both accomplished their wished for creative dreams. Nick performs on the New York stage as ‘The Boy” in Off Broadway’s The Fantasticks at the Snapple Theatre, while Starr was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys for the past three seasons.

Nick took a brief hiatus from "The Fantasticks" to perform in a show in Denver, Colorado. It was while he was away that he and his sister applied for the CBS reality-show, "The Amazing Race." Now Nick and his sister await America's reaction as they bound around the globe in a one-of-a-kind experience: A race around the world for one million dollars.

The Fantasticks is a captivating and simple love story about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. The audience uses its imagination to follow El Gallo as he creates a world of moonlight and magic, and then pain and disillusionment, until the boy and girl find their way back to one other. The score, which includes “Try To Remember,” “They Were You” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” is as timeless as the story itself.

Having played a record-breaking 17,162 performances in its initial run at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, The Fantasticks has been performed in every corner of the world, from Afghanistan to Iran to Zimbabwe. It is the only Off-Broadway show to have won a Tony Award (for Excellence in the Theater), and it has become a true New York institution. In fact, Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the New Year’s Eve performance before ringing in 2008 in Times Square.

The original 1960 company starred the late Jerry Orbach as El Gallo. Last June, the theater that is home to this revival of The Fantasticks was christened The Jerry Orbach Theater. Other notable performers who have appeared in the company include F. Murray Abraham, Glenn Close, Liza Minnelli and Elliot Gould. Most recently, American Idol finalist Anthony Federov appeared in this revival as The Boy.

The performance schedule is as follows: Monday at 8PM, Wednesday at 2PM, Thursday and Friday at 8PM, Saturday at 2 & 8PM, and Sunday at 3 & 7:15PM. Tickets, priced $51 - $76, are available by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or Ticketmaster.com at (212) 307-4100. Specially-priced $31 student rush tickets are also available the day of the performance.

The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street (at Broadway).

The Amazing Race Season 13 premieres on CBS September 28^th at 8pm.

Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

The Snapple Theater Center/ The Jerry Orbach Theater

The Fantasticks Plays On!

The Fantasticks

The famous The Fantasticks logo

Nick Spangler is on the board

The Fantasticks cast listing

The Fantasticks curtain

Nick Spangler

Starr Spangler and Nick Spangler

Sis and Bro, Starr Spangler and Nick Spangler

Starr Spangler and Nick Spangler

Nick Spangler

Related Links

Spangler & Ullman Take Final Bow in THE FANTASTICKS; Altemus & Leisy Join the Company, 12/4 & 12/28
Nick Spangler, winner of the thirteenth season of the Emmy Award-winning reality television series The Amazing Race, will play his final performance as Matt in The Fantasticks this Sunday, December 13, 2009. Erik Altemus, last seen as Frankie Epps in the Musical Theatre Guild of Los Angeles's production of Parade, takes over the role on December 14.

Purchase Tickets

Click Here to Purchase Tickets to The Fantasticks

On BWW.TV

After his life as an ingenue in Brooklyn & Queens, Walter spent the next 25 Years in a leading role as a Photographer / Photo Researcher in Manhattan. He is currently headlining in New Jersey with his partner Richard and children Dali & Gala. As a 14 year old youth, Walter was transfixed by his first Broadway Show, the original production of "GREASE". His journey on the path to celebrity photojournalism began that fateful night. Meeting, photographing and getting to know the cast inspired him to spend his professional life doing what he loved. Broadway introduced him to his two homes... Retna Ltd & BroadwayWorld.com, represented by: www.retna.com.

Past Articles by This Author: