The Fantasticks #2

OPENING: May 3, 1960

CLOSING: Originally January 13th 2002; Permanently on February 24th, 2008.

Seen: 1999

LOCATION: Sullivan Street Playhouse

Shortly after my Theater Kid Awakening with The Sound of Music, my parents made a solo trip back to the theater without me.

Did watching my love of live performance solidify something in them as well? I don’t know. But the playbills don’t lie and I can’t help but think that the next show was the one they chose BECAUSE they loved bringing me to The Sound of Music and wanted to revisit an old favorite of theirs.

So naturally, they trekked downtown and headed to see The Fantastiks again. They once again made their way to the Sullivan Street Playhouse.

If you read my last article about the Fantastiks, you’ve read that it was the longest running Off-Broadway show in history. It originally ran from May 3rd, 1960 to January 13th, 2002; it opened again at the Snapple Theater Center on August 23rd, 2006 and closed permanently on February 24th, 2008.  At the time of it’s first closure in 2002, there was an uproar from its fans. How could a beloved production, which had run so long, close so suddenly?

In 2002, I was old enough to be sad it was closing. I had not seen it, nor was I really able to grasp the impact it had on audiences but I was grateful when it reopened. But the question remained – if there was that much of an uproar to it’s original closing, why did it close?

New Yorkers know the answer. Sullivan Street was getting a makeover and that makeover did not include a ramshackle little theater, beloved tenant be damned. The rents spiked; the production had no choice but to shutter.

Now, in 2025, we are no stranger to this. Even since before the pandemic, we have lost many, many theater spaces. In both the East and West Villages, many theater spaces have been forced to close their doors thanks to rising rents and money-hungry business people. Independent artists, such as myself and many of the artists I work with, are faced with increasing guard rails when we search for a place to share our art. Naked Angels NYC, an organization that I have been blessed to work with for the past few years, was forced two years ago to move from their long-term home of Theater 80 on Saint Mark’s Place due to a foreclosure. We then spent less than a year at the Kraine before Frigid NYC, the resident theater company there, left and the owners decided to make it a private venue.

Theater 80 was a stalwart of the Off-Broadway community. In the 1950’s, the original You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown was workshopped there. In the decades following, it was a hotbed of new work and many producers couldn’t wait to try out their new pieces there in hopes that it would be hailed as the next big thing. But even this reputation couldn’t save it. To my knowledge, it is now sitting empty.

The Kraine was one of those theaters that back in the day was THE PLACE to get your foot in the door. It was the home of many low-budget one act festivals that were perfect for actors who were new to New York to get their start. But like Theater 80, it’s reputation could not save it. While it is still functionally a theater, it is currently not rented out to those who are young and hungry.

We cannot allow more theaters to close. New York was built on young artists creating theater. We almost lost The Drama Book Shop a few years ago; if Lin Manuel Miranda had not stepped in and bought it, we would be without that resource as well.

Naked Angels is a thriving company; we now operate out of Out of the Box Theatricals (Formerly the New Ohio Theater) on Christopher Street. But it seemed for a time that we, like many other companies, would be homeless. Hopefully, we will be there for some time and we can continue to be the artists that we are and are becoming.

Did my parents enjoy The Fantastiks as much as they did the first time? I believe they did. I remember them coming home invigorated. But let’s not lose another theater space to “Industry”. We are an industry as well – we cannot lose ours in favor of shopping.

CAST: REPLACEMENT

THE NARRATOR (EL GALLO): Paul Gallo

THE BOY (MATT): Evan Farmer

THE GIRL (LUISA): Allison Munn

THE BOY’S FATHER (HUCKLEBERRY): Richard P. Gang

THE GIRL’S FATHER (BELLOMY): William Tost

THE OLD ACTOR (HENRY): Byron Hull

THE MAN WHO DIES (MORTIMER): Joel Bernstein

THE MUTE: Kim Moore

AT THE PIANO: Jeramie Michael

AT THE HARP: Hank Whitmire

UNDERSTUDIES: Kim Moore (The Narrator); Heather Spore (The Girl); William Tost (The Boy’s Father); and Richard P. Gang (The Girl’s Father).

Gans, Andrew. “’They Were You’: The Fantastiks Ends Second Off-Broadway Run Feb 24.”. Playbill, February 24th, 2008. https://playbill.com/article/they-were-you-the-fantasticks-ends-second-off-broadway-run-feb-24-com-147856

Playbill. “The Fantasticks” Bids Farewell, Jan 13, After 42 Years of Sullivan Street.” January 13, 2002. https://playbill.com/article/the-fantasticks-bids-farewell-jan-13-after-42-years-on-sullivan-street-com-103329

Village Preservation. Accessed January 2nd, 2025. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2012/01/13/sullivan-street-playhouse-gone-but-not-forgotten/