The Fantasticks Tickets

The Fantasticks News and Information The world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, is kicking off a 200-show run at the Snapple Theater Center (Jerry Orbach Theater) in New York City on June 10th.

The play, which has found extreme success since its opening in 1960, includes music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. The tale is based upon two fathers who put up a wall between their houses to ensure that their children fall in love, because children always do what their parents forbid. After falling in love, they rebel and look for different things, but eventually return to each other knowing that it was, in fact, the best decision. This play is directly influenced by Pyramus and Thisbe, Shakespeare's "Romie and Juliet," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "The Romancers."

The play, which opened on May 3rd, 1960, and included 17,162 performances before closing January 13, 2002, reopened in August of 2006 with renewed pizzazz. It was directed by Jones, who also appeared as The Old Actor under the stage name Thomas Bruce. The cast included Burke Moses, Leo Burmester, Martin Vidonic, Santino Fantana and Sara Jean Ford. The revival closed on January 17, 2008, and reopened on June 16, 2008 at the same location.