The Amazing Story of The Fantasticks: America's Longest-Running Play (Limelight)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879103132 ISBN 13: 9780879103132

Publisher: Limelight, 2005

Frequently called the “Miracle on Sullivan Street” (in New York's Greenwich Village), The Fantasticks has been the most-often performed musical around the world, setting more national and international longevity records than any musical in theater history. With the advent of the show's New York closing, Donald C. Farber and Robert Viagras have completely updated the 1991 edition of their best-selling book. The Amazing Story is the detailed history of how this fabulously successful show by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt came into being, and how and why it succeeded. In tracing the evolution of the show from an idea to a cultural phenomenon, the book takes readers through the countless auditions to attract backers, the search for theaters to hold tryouts (which indicated disaster), and eventual popular success. Among the actors who have performed in the musical are Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Chamberlain, Elliott Gould, Bert Lahr, Liza Minnelli, Robert Goulet, and Glenn Close. This updated edition includes new photos of the show's many productions and stars, recent interviews with performers, writers, and others associated with the musical, and suprising revelations that could not be told until the show's closing on Off Broadway.

About the Author:

Robert Viagas founded and managed Playbill.com, Theatre.com, and Broadway Television and is the editor of Playbill Books. He is the author or editor of fourteen books and lives in New York City.

From Library Journal:

The Fantasticks is an icon of American theater, just starting its 31st year of performance. Its longevity is partly due to its simple plot, its charming music, its theatrical conception, and the universality of its myth. This well-researched book recounts The Fantasticks 's genesis and performance history. This is not a typical Broadway melodrama of a rags-to-riches instant hit, but the story of a long and arduous growth from its model in Rostand through the college careers of its three central creators and innumerable influences that shaped its final form. Dedication, determination, oceans of talent, and heavy doses of love and luck all mark the journey. The warmth and insightfulness the authors bring to their work make this book readable and instructive.
- Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.