The Fantasticks book & lyriCs by tom jones, music by harvey schmidt
a message from the artistic director I was pleasantly surprised when Peter Donaldson told me that The Fantasticks was his favourite play. He had performed in it as a very young actor and it remained his favourite for his whole life. This despite the fact that over a remarkable career Pete played in all of the great plays – in twenty four seasons at the Stratford Festival, in regional theatres across the country, and in this theatre where Pete gave his last performance in Glengarry Glen Ross. Pete was always brilliant on stage and deeply loved and admired off stage. He died in January much, much too young. He will be sorely missed. This production of his favourite play is dedicated with love, admiration, and gratitude to our great friend Peter Donaldson.
Albert Schultz, Artistic Director
artist note: William Webster There is a deceptively simple quality to The Fantasticks. The musical is closer to Our Town than it is to Shakespeare. It does have a naïveté and sentiment (not sentimentality) to it that is so tender that it creeps up on you emotionally. This show has been playing longer than any other musical in history. In many ways it was a response to America of the fifties – with its rapid progress, technological development, and turbulent political climate – a call to get back to a simpler state of living, the essentials of life, of love, of respect, of imagination. We’ve got to nourish ourselves emotionally, psychologically, and romantically. What’s thrilling here is that our musical director Paul Sportelli knows that he’s dealing with an ensemble of actors who really know one another and have an immense body of work together. So it’s been remarkable to work with him and our director Joe Ziegler to share this story with our audience. The creators of The Fantasticks have such wit and skill – there isn’t another musical that I can think of that hits all of these notes, and not just the musical ones, while maintaining such a broad appeal with so many hit tunes. I think that the show asks you to try to remember what it was like when you were 14 or 16 or when you had your first child. And the immediacy of that engagement is very affirming – it’s a masterpiece, a miracle, what the theatre should be about.
William Webster, Bellamy in The Fantasticks