Gallery Theater's THE FANTASTICKS Plays Final Show

Gallery Theater's The Fantasticks will play its final show on February 20 on the main stage.

In May of 1960, a small musical opened in an inconspicuous Off Broadway theatre on Sullivan Street. Blessed with an unknown producer, little financing, unknown players and monumental belief that the play would succeed, who knew that it would become the longest running musical in American Theatre, and world theatre. The play was a work started as a college review. It was nurtured by Tom Jones (book and lyrics) and Harvey Schmidt (music) suggested by an Edmond Rostand play called Les Romanesques. This was readapted in 1900 by George Fleming as The Fantasticks which was lost for many years. The Jones and Schmidt version is an adaptation of both with great uses of elements from commedia, Shakespeare, Moliere, Wilder, Robert Frost, Our Town, Oklahoma, Chinese theatre, fantasy, parable, myth and real life.

The Fantasticks tells the story of two fathers, in our production - a father and a mother, who concoct a feud in order to fool their romance-obsessed children to fall in love. Driving the telling of the story is a narrator, or magician/puppeteer and his two accomplices that add spice to the telling. In the end, we may ask the question, "Who are the puppets?" Two of the familiar songs are "Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "Try to Remember."

Although the Gallery production will be presented on the main stage, seating will be limited to 150 to maintain the intimacy and mystical quality of the play. Eight of the seats are actually on the stage.

Many reviews have been written of The Fantasticks but few are able to full tell us what they have seen. The words most frequently found are: "happy," "delightful," "compelling," "imaginative," "delicate," "whimsically charming," "memorable," and many more. All give credence to its 42-year run (1960-2002) only to enter in revival in 2006.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW: $15 General Admission, $13 Students/Seniors. Gallery's box office is open Tuesday through Friday; 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Call 472-2227 for tickets. For further information go to www.gallerytheater.org.

 

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