The Fantasticks

OPENING: May 3, 1960

CLOSING: January 13, 2002

Seen: February 1985

LOCATION: Sullivan Street Playhouse

What’s the longest running musical in New York theater history?

To the well versed Theater Kid, that question should be an easy one. The answer that immediately comes to the minds of most of you, I’m sure, is Phantom of the Opera. But that answer would be wrong. For you see, the question above is a trick question. Phantom would be the answer if I had phrased the question “What is the longest running BROADWAY musical?” But the title of longest running MUSICAL actually goes to an Off-Broadway show. A beautiful little show called “The Fantasticks.”

The Fantasticks, like many of the smaller scale shows, was not a commissioned show destined for Broadway from the minute for conception. It was a collaboration between two friends, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, who had written a musical revue together at the University of Texas in 1950 titled “Hipsy-Boo” and then just continued writing after that.

In 1959, after unsuccessfully trying to adapt a Rostand play into a full-length musical for years, Jones and Schmidt were approached by Word Baker. Baker had been a classmate of theirs at UT and was producing summer theatre at Barnard College. Remembering that his college classmates had collaborated in the past, he asked them if they had any short pieces that he could use.

It is often said that necessity is mother of invention; that was the cast for Jones and Schmidt here. What had eluded them for years at this point only took them three weeks to turn into a short musical. The Barnard one-act version of The Fantasticks stunned audiences and put the dynamic duo in the enviable position of being able to choose a producer to take their brainchild to Off-Broadway.

And take it they did. Under their choice of producer Lore Noto, Jones and Schmidt expanded their little one act into the full length musical they had been trying to write for almost a decade. They were even able to attract top notch talent; Jerry Orbach took on the role of the mysterious El Gallo and Rita Gardner slipped into the role of Luisa. And because he considered himself an actor first – Jones cast himself into the role of “Actor”, though he gave himself the stage name of Thomas Bruce. Having acquired investors from living room pitches and late night showcases – one investor, Ira Kapp, admitted years later that he invested out of guilt because he fell asleep minutes into a late night showcase – The Fantasticks finally opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse on May 3rd, 1960.

And no one expected it to do as well as it did.

The Fantasticks is a simple story. Two teenaged lovers live next door to each other, separated by a fence a feud of their fathers.  But alas! Plot twist: The fathers are actually great friends and have actually invented the feud to ignite teenaged rebellion for the teens fall in love. The enlist the help El Gallo to create the charade of an abduction to end the feud; after which the show becomes very meta.

It’s a very simple show, involving minimal set and props. Many of the investors put up around $300, a small sum for a New York production even in 1960. So when it ran longer than a year, it was considered a success.

And then it ran for five.

And then it ran for ten.

And then….it finally closed on January 13, 2002.

For those of you keeping track, the show that almost didn’t get written, that was then written in under three weeks, and then was pitched to investors in living rooms….ran for forty two years. That’s six years longer than the historic Phantom of the Opera Broadway run.

To top it off, an angel investor decided that it was a piece of New York history, so funds were put up to bring it back once it had closed, so it reopened on July 29th, 2006 at the Snapple Center, where it ran almost another 11 years until June 4th, 2017. And the best part? The originating 2006 cast once again featured “Tom Bruce”, though this time the role was renamed as “Old Actor” instead of “Actor.”

When my dad saw it in 1985, 25 years after the opening, the living room feel still permeated. As per the norm, he does not remember, but the Playbill screams it. There is a note in the Playbill from Lore Noto himself tucked into the front of it asking the audience to spread the word of the show through word of mouth to keep the spirit of Off-Broadway alive. And then to top it off – He played Hucklebee in that night’s performance.

So yes, Phantom of the Opera is the longest running Broadway show. But we must not forget the iconic figure that held a place in our city for 57 years. And while the show was not flashy and did not have a village of actors (Fantasticks Cast Count: 8), or a subway car worth of musicians (Fantasticks band: 2), sometimes it’s the little guy who stands solid.

CAST: REPLACEMENT

THE NARRATOR: David Brummel

THE GIRL: Karen Culliver

THE BOY: Bill Perlach

THE BOY’S FATHER: Lore Noto

THE GIRL’S FATHER: William Tost

THE OLD ACTOR: Bryan Hull

THE MAN WHO DIES: Robert R. Oliver

THE MUTE: Tom Brittingham

UNDERSTUDIES: Jim Charles (The Narrator); Joan Wiest (The Girl); and William Tost (The Boy’s Father).

Brantley, Ben. “A Return to Off-Broadway, With Performance No. 17,163.” New York Times, August 24 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/theater/reviews/24fant.html

BroadwayWorld. “Sullivan Street Playhouse.” Accessed November 2023. https://www.broadwayworld.com/theatre/Sullivan-Street-Playhouse

Drew. “Sullivan Street Playhouse: Gone But Not Forgotten.” Off The Grid. (Blog). January 13, 2012. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2012/01/13/sullivan-street-playhouse-gone-but-not-forgotten/

Healy, Patrick. “’Fantasticks’ Pays Back For 50 Years”. New York Times, May 2, 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/theater/03fantastick.html?pagewanted=2&8dpc&_r=0

Latson, Jennifer. “The World’s Longest Running Musical Started Small – And Stayed Small.” Time, January 13, 2015. https://time.com/3657605/fantasticks-history/

The Fantasticks Official Website. “The Authors.” Accessed November 2023. https://www.thefantasticks.com/webpages/authors.html

The Fantasticks Official Website. “The Original Cast.” Accessed December 2023. https://www.thefantasticks.com/webpages/original_cast.html”

TheaterMania. “The Fantasticks To Close Off-Broadway After 57 Years”. March 21, 2017. https://www.theatermania.com/news/the-fantasticks-to-close-off-broadway-after-57-years_80435/

Time. “Broadway: What Makes Some Run.” May 14, 1965. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,898826,00.html

Utah Shakespeare Festival. “Synopsis: The Fantasticks.” Accessed December 2023. https://www.bard.org/study-guides/synopsis-the-fantasticks/