Reverse Psychology, The Fantasticks Finally Reaches Broadway

Sullivan Street kept *The Fantasticks* for 42 years. West 44th Street gets it for 15 weeks.

Second Stage Theater's Broadway premiere of the musical begins performances on Thursday, October 22, at the Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, according to Second Stage's show page. Opening night is November 16, per Playbill. It is a limited engagement.

Time Out's Mark Peikert notes that this is the first time the legendary musical has played Broadway. The show opened Off-Broadway on May 3, 1960. It closed at the Sullivan Street Playhouse on January 13, 2002, after 17,162 performances, as Playbill reported at the time. Time Out adds another 11 years at the Snapple Theater Center.

That is 66 years of waiting. The wait ends with a few changes.

Two Boys, Two Mothers

The classic version has a boy, a girl and two fathers who pretend to feud so the kids will fall for each other. This one keeps the scheme and changes the cast of lovers. Playbill reports that Matt and Luisa become Matt and Lewis, and the fathers become mothers.

The revision did not start on Broadway. Playbill says it was first presented in 2022 at Flint Repertory Theatre in Michigan, then developed at Provincetown Playhouse in Massachusetts and Coachella Valley Repertory in California.

Second Stage credits the revised book and lyrics to Tom Jones, who died in 2023, and says the show was reconceived by Jones himself. Stage and Cinema's Tony Frankel tells a fuller story. He reports that the idea came from director Michael Lluberes. Jones resisted at first, Frankel writes, then embraced it and worked on the revision before his death.

Frankel saw the Coachella Valley staging in 2023 and found the changes natural. His report includes one exchange from the revised script. El Gallo asks whether the mothers worry about two boys.

They love each other. Why should we be worried?

Ruthie Ann Miles, who is in the Broadway company, goes further in Frankel's piece. She calls the reimagining the greatest rendering of the show she has ever seen. Second Stage's own description promises that the heart and humor of the original survive. The plan at the center is the same. Two parents scheme, and two young people fall.

The Company

The mothers are the draw. Miles, a Tony winner for *The King and I*, plays Bessie Mae Bellomy, Lewis's mother. Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, a Tony nominee for *Spamalot*, plays Mildred Hucklebee, Matt's mother.

Maxim Chlumecky is Matt. Nathan Levy is Lewis. Zane Phillips makes his Broadway debut as El Gallo, the narrator, according to New York Theatre Guide.

David Patrick Kelly plays the Old Actor, Henry. Kelly, an Obie winner for sustained excellence, played mandolin in *Once* on Broadway. Kevin Del Aguila, a Tony nominee for *Some Like It Hot*, is Mortimer, the Man Who Dies. Ahmad Simmons, from *Illinoise* and *Hadestown*, is The Mute.

Christopher Gattelli, a Tony winner for *Newsies* whose credits include *Schmigadoon!*, directs and choreographs. Jason Sherwood designs the sets, Linda Cho the costumes, Jen Schriever the lighting and Nevin Steinberg the sound. Sam Davis handles music supervision and orchestrations.

The company was announced in late August. This week brought a first look. On Friday, Playbill posted video from a press preview where the cast performed for reporters.

The songs are the ones people hum without knowing why. New York Theatre Guide lists "Try to Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain" among them.

What to Know Before You Go

The first performance is Thursday, October 22, at 8 p.m., per Second Stage's calendar. The run is 15 weeks.

The Hayes box office at 240 West 44th Street is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Tickets are on the show page.

The block is getting crowded with big musicals this fall. Down the street, Dolly Parton's Broadway musical has its full company.

The mothers stage a feud to push their sons together. After 66 years, Broadway is the one being pushed.