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Fantasticks
''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud. The show's original off-Broadway production ran a total of 42 years (until 2002) and 17,162 performances, making it the world's longest-running musical. The musical was produced by Lore Noto. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1991. The poetic book and breezy, inventive score, including such familiar songs as "Try to Remember", helped make the show durable. Many productions followed, as well as television and film versions. ''The Fantasticks'' has become a staple of regional, community and high school productions since its premiere, with approximately 250 new productions each year. It is played with a small cast, two- to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fantasticks (film)
''The Fantasticks'' is a 2000 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. The screenplay by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt is based on their record-breaking off-Broadway production of the same name, which ran for 17,162 performances (and was subsequently revived off-Broadway). Though it was made in 1995, the film did not see a proper (though very limited) release until 2000 in an abridged form. It received mixed reviews from critics. Plot Amos Babcock Bellamy (Joel Grey) and Ben Hucklebee (Brad Sullivan) scheme to get their respective children, Luisa (Jean Louisa Kelly) and Matt (Joey McIntyre), to fall in love. Knowing they will resist their fathers' interference, the two men use reverse psychology and fabricate a feud, building a wall between their houses and forbidding their children to speak to each other. When their plan works, they enlist the aid of El Gallo (Jonathon Morris), the proprietor of a traveling carnival, to put an end to their supposed disa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lore Noto
Lore Noto (June 9, 1923 – July 8, 2002), born Lorenzo Noto, was a Broadway theatrical producer of The Yearling, a commercial artist, actor and play writer, but best known as the producer of the world's longest-running musical in history — The Fantasticks. Early life and military career Noto, born in 1923, began life as a child in a Brooklyn apartment with his Italian immigrant parents and two brothers, but was primarily raised in The Willamsburg Home for Children orphanage from three years of age, upon losing his mother in childbirth with her fourth child. Noto joined the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. Wounded while in Antwerp, Belgium with a broken back having been trapped under debris for hours in a bombed building, the result of a direct hit by a German V-2 rocket, Noto was selected among a group of ten men to be the first Merchant Seaman to be awarded the Purple Heart medal. He ended his military career as a Chief petty officer in the U.S. Maritime Serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt (September 12, 1929 – February 28, 2018) was an American composer for musical theatre and illustrator. He was best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, ''The Fantasticks'', which ran off-Broadway for 42 years, from 1960 to 2002. Biography Schmidt was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended the University of Texas to study art, but when he met Tom Jones at the university, he started to accompany the drama student on the piano. They soon started writing musicals together, the first being a revue. However, after serving in the Army, Schmidt moved to New York and worked as a graphic artist for NBC Television and later as an illustrator for ''Life'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Sports Illustrated'', and ''Fortune''. All of Schmidt's major musicals were written with lyricist Tom Jones. The duo is best-known for the musical ''The Fantasticks'', which ran for 42 years off-Broadway, from 1960 to 2002 for a total of 17,162 performances. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Jones (writer)
Tom Jones (born February 17, 1928) is an American lyricist and librettist, best known for ''The Fantasticks'', '' 110 in the Shade'', and ''I Do! I Do!''. He was born in Littlefield, Texas. Career Jones' best-known work is ''The Fantasticks'', which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, "Try to Remember". Other songs from ''The Fantasticks'' include " Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More", and "I Can See It". He also wrote the screenplay for the 1995 feature-film adaptation. Jones acted in a New York City revival of ''The Fantasticks'', which he also directed. He played the part of the Old Actor, from when the musical opened in 1960, and from April 26, 2010, to June 6, 2010. He was credited as an actor in the show as Thomas Bruce. Jones is also the author of ''Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theater'', about which Elyse Sommer wrote on January 15, 1998 in ''CurtainUp'': Extremely well organized and packed wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Try To Remember (song)
"Try to Remember" is a song about nostalgia from the musical comedy play ''The Fantasticks'' (1960). It is the first song performed in the show, encouraging the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests. The words were written by the American lyricist Tom Jones while Harvey Schmidt composed the music. Popular charts and early recordings "Try to Remember" was sung by Jerry Orbach for the original off-Broadway production of ''The Fantasticks''. "Try to Remember" scored the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 popular music chart three times during 1965, with versions by Ed Ames, Roger Williams and Barry McGuire. The song was the first Australian success for the trio New World. Their version peaked at no. 11 during late 1968. In 1975, Gladys Knight & the Pips had an international success with their version of "Try to Remember", combining it into a medley with a cover version of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were". It scored no. 11 on the US Hot 100 chart, and no. 4 in the UK (their b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century. Another of Rostand's works, ''Les Romanesques'' (1894), was adapted to the 1960 musical comedy ''The Fantasticks''. Early life Rostand was born in Marseille, France, into a wealthy and cultured Provençal family. His father was an economist, a poet who translated and edited the works of Catullus, and a member of the Marseille Academy and the Institut de France. Rostand studied literature, history, and philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, France. Career When Rostand was twenty years old, his first play, a one-act comedy, ''Le Gant rouge'', was performed at the Cluny Theatre, 24 August 1888, but it was almost unnoticed. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramus And Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors. Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their respective parents, driven by rivalry, forbid them to wed. Through a crack in one of the walls they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near a tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a bloody mouth from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her cloak. When Pyramus arrives, he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's cloak: the lioness had torn it and left traces of blood behind, as well as its tracks. Assuming that a wild beast has killed her, Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword, a typical Babylonian way to commit suicide, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus's blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest In Love
''Ernest in Love'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Anne Croswell and music by Lee Pockriss. It is based on ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', Oscar Wilde's classic 1895 comedy of manners. Background The two-act musical is an expanded version of the hour-long musical ''Who's Earnest?'' televised on ''The United States Steel Hour'' in 1957.Suskin, Steven."On the Record: Ernest In Love, Marco Polo, Puppets and Maury Yeston", Playbill.com, August 10, 2003. The 1959-1960 Off-Broadway season included a dozen musicals and revues including ''Little Mary Sunshine'', ''The Fantasticks'' (based on an obscure 1894 work by Edmond Rostand, of Cyrano fame), and ''Ernest in Love'', a musicalization of Oscar Wilde's 1895 hit. The production was directed by Harold Stone and choreographed by Frank Derbas. It opened on May 4, 1960, at the Gramercy Arts Theatre, where it was warmly received by the critics but ran for only 103 performances. The cast included Louis Edmonds as Algernon, John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Mary Sunshine
''Little Mary Sunshine'' is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The original Off-Broadway production premiered November 18, 1959 at the Orpheum Theatre in New York City's East Village. Staying in the neighborhood, it moved to the Player's Theatre on June 21, 1961, then, finally, to the Cherry Lane Theatre on March 21, 1962. Closing was Sept. 2, 1962. Combined run was 1,143 performances. It was seen briefly in a West End production in 1962 and has become a popular show for amateur and semi-professional groups in the United States and elsewhere. Background ''Little Mary Sunshine'' was conceived and staged as an affectionate sendup of operettas and old-fashioned musicals, the genre of Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml, and Sigmund Romberg. It also has allusions to Gilbert and Sullivan, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Noël Coward, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and other musical theatre composers and lyricists. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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