The Fantasticks, Staged by Japanese Director Amon Miyamato, to Play West End
By Mark Shenton
06 Nov 2009
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's 1960 musical The Fantasticks, whose original Off-Broadway production ran for some 42 years and became the world's longest-running musical, is to receive a new West End outing in 2010.
It will begin performances at the Duchess Theatre May 24, prior to an official opening June 9, in a new production directed and choreographed by Japanese director Amon Miyamoto, who has previously fulfilled the same duties on Sondheim's Pacific Overtures at Broadway's Studio 54 in 2004, and whose recent credits include Bill Russell and Henry Krieger's Up in the Air (seen at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center in 2008), and Maltby and Shire's Take Flight (at Tokyo's International Forum Hall in 2007).
The production, which is being presented by Kumiko Yoshii for Gorgeous Entertainment, John Gore and Thomas B. McGrath in association with Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer for Nimax Theatres, is designed by Rumi Matsui (Tony nominated for the 2005 Best Scenic Design of a Musical Award for Pacific Overtures), with lighting by Rick Fisher (2009 Tony winner for Best Lighting Design for Billy Elliot) and costumes by Nicky Shaw.
According to press materials, The Fantasticks tells an allegorical story, loosely based on Edmond Rostand's play The Romancers (Les Romanesques) concerning two neighboring fathers who put up a wall between their houses to ensure that their children fall in love, because they know children always do what their parents forbid. After the children do fall in love, they discover their fathers' plot and each goes off and experience the world. Finally they return to each other and the love they had, having learned from the world to recognize their true feelings. Elements of the musical are drawn from the story of "Pyramus and Thisbe," whose story also found its way into Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, among others.
Jones and Schmidt's other Broadway credits include 110 in the Shade (premiered in 1963) and I Do! I Do! (1966). Their score for The Fantasticks includes such classics as "Much More," "I Can See It" and "Try to Remember."
The Fantasticks first premiered Off-Broadway at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in 1960, with a cast that included Jerry Orbach, Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson and librettist Tom Jones himself. It finally closed Jan. 13, 2002 after a record-breaking 17,162 performances. It subsequently returned in a new production to Off-Broadway's Snapple Theater Centre in 2006, where it is still running now. It was last seen on the London stage in July 1990 as part of the annual summer season at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.
It has also played in over 2000 cities and towns in the States, and internationally it has been seen in 67 countries.
To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 412 4659, or visit www.thefantasticks.co.uk for more details.
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