Bellport, Long Island is a quaint South Shore community known for its maple-lined streets, Currier and Ives architecture and its popular regattas on the Great South Bay. It is also the home of the Gateway Playhouse which is one of the oldest summer theaters in New York State. Once housed in an old barn, the theater expanded into an adjacent modern facility on South Country Road about 40 years ago.
During the summer of 2006, one of the Gateway's featured attractions was Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's perennial favorite, THE FANTASTICKS. Audience members were treated to a fine production of the show and were impressed by some marvelous vocalizing, particularly from a young actor named Nick Spangler who played Matt. His renditions of such favorites as "Soon It's Gonna Rain" , "Metaphor" and "I Can See It " caused the New York Times to comment that "Mr. Spangler is a thrillingly pure-voiced romantic interest with a boyish face to match."
Theater-goers attending the current Off-Broadway revival of THE FANTASTICKS were recently greeted by inserts in their Playbills announcing that "At this performance, the role of Matt will be played by Nick Spangler". They were treated to Spangler's boy-next-door looks and more of his memorable singing. Spangler, who normally plays The Mute, understudies Matt in this production and has gone on as The Boy about 15 times since joining the cast on October 30, 2006. His performance as Matt is fresh and wholesome and his singing is even more clarion than it was the summer before. The ladies in the audience were smitten by him and one woman remarked that not only was he physically attractive, but "there wasn't an ounce of fat on his body."
Meeting Nick Spangler in the lobby of the new Snapple Theater Center after a recent matinee found him casually dressed in jeans, a gray tee shirt and a yellow baseball cap which was so battered, frayed and sweat-stained that it would easily be rejected by the Salvation Army's charity bin, At this performance he was back to his customary role as The Mute in which he proved to be a revelation of economic gesture, concentration and distinct movement which contrasts greatly with the way he approached the role of Matt. It's hard to believe the same actor is giving these distinctly different performances in the same production.
Spangler is hungry and ready to enjoy a good meal before heading back to the theater for that evening's performance. Settling down at a quiet table at a nearby Harmony View Restaurant (where he was on a first name basis with many of the waitresses), Spangler ordered his meal and was ready to talk about his nascent career as well as his experiences of sharing the stage with one of the show's creators.
A California native, Nick Spangler credits his mother with getting him started in show business at the age of five. She had him cast in a community theater presentation of THE WIZARD OF OZ and a member of the show's "Lollipop Guild", the actor fell in love with the stage. "When we opened the show and the cast came out for our final bows, the audience went nuts. Even though I was a Munchkin and had the first bow--with about twenty other kids--I thought, 'This is so cool!' It was very exciting and I must have really enjoyed it because my parents kept putting me into various community theater productions. By the time I got to high school, I became known as 'that kid who does musical theater' and all that stuff. Because I was so young when I started, it's always been what I do. It always shocked me when I was in high school and teachers asked other kids what their plans were after school and the kids didn't know. I would look at them and say, 'What do you mean you don't know?' Even in college I'd ask people what their goals were and they felt that they'd eventually figure it out. I couldn't understand how they didn't have a plan."
