A new production of the off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks is to come to London’s Duchess theatre from 24 May next year (press night 9 June).
The Fantasticks, which has book, lyrics and music by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, premiered in New York in 1960 and played for a record-breaking 42 years before closing in 2002, becoming the world’s longest-running musical.
Loosely based on Edmond Rostand’s play The Romancers and taking themes from Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Fantasticks tells the story of two neighbouring fathers who forbid their children to see each other, hoping this will actually push them to fall in love.
This London production is directed by Amon Miyamoto and designed by Rumi Matsui, who previously collaborated on the Broadway production of Pacific Overtures.
The Fantasticks continues a busy schedule for the Duchess theatre. Currently at the venue is the Complicite production of Endgame, which ends its run on 5 December. This is followed by a Christmas season of Tim Whitnall’s Edinburgh hit Morecambe, about the late comic Eric Morecambe, before Iain Glen’s production of Ibsen’s Ghosts plays from 8 February to 15 May.
CB