Photo Flash: Composer Harvey Schmidt Visits THE FANTASTICKS

Harvey Schmidt, the celebrated composer of The Fantasticks, visited the show for the first time in more than twenty years on Saturday, June 16, 2012. After the performance, Schmidt met with the cast including television veteran John Davidson and triple platinum recording artist Aaron Carter.

Check out photos of Schmidt with the cast below!

Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt wrote The Fantasticks for a summer theater at Barnard College. After its Off Broadway opening in May 1960 it went on to become the longest-running production in the history of the American stage and one of the most frequently-produced musicals in the world.

Their first Broadway show, 110 in the Shade, was revived on Broadway in a new production starring Audra McDonald. I Do! I Do!, their two-character musical starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston, was a success on Broadway and is frequently produced around the country and the world. One production, in Minneapolis, played for 22 continuous years with the same two ac­tors in the leading roles.

For several years Jones and Schmidt worked privately at their theater workshop, concentrating on small-scale musicals in new and often untried forms. The most notable of these efforts were Celebration, which moved to Broadway, and Philemon, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award. They contributed incidental music and lyrics to the Off Broadway play Colette starring Zoë Caldwell, then later did a full-scale musical version under the title Colette Collage. The Show Goes On, a musical revue featuring their theater songs and starring Jones and Schmidt, was presented at the York Theater, and Mirette, their musical based on the award-winning children’s book, was premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.

In addition to an Obie Award and the 1992 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater for The Fantasticks, Jones and Schmidt were inducted into the Broadway Hall of Fame at the Gershwin Theatre, and on May 3, 1999 their stars were added to the Off Broadway Walk of Fame outside the Lucille Lortel Theater. In 2012, New York City's York Theater produced many of their shows in their Musicals in Mufti series and the duo were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

A modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, The Fantasticks is the quintessential story of a boyfriend and girlfriend who quickly grow apart when they realize they want to experience the world. What follows is a hilarious and heartwarming story appropriate for all ages. The score, which includes the hit songs “Try To Remember”, “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and “They Were You”, is as timeless as the story itself. Having run for 42 years in its original production at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, The Fantasticks is the world’s longest-running musical.

The cast of The Fantasticks features triple platinum recording artist Aaron Carter, television veteran John Davidson (The Happiest Millionaire, State Fair), Jeremiah James (Carousel in the West End), Bill Bateman (Broadway’s Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, Hello, Dolly!), Tom Flagg (Broadway’s Will Rogers Follies, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Oklahoma!), Heidi Giberson (national tours of Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Cats), Matt Leisy (St. Louis Rep’s The History Boys, A Christmas Carol at Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Michael Nostrand (A&E’s Emmy Award-winning Peter Pan, national tours of Jelly’s Last Jam, The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Dan Sharkey (Broadway’s The Music Man, Show Boat), Juliette Trafton (Christine in the national tour of Phantom of the Opera) and Scott Willis (Broadway’s Annie, State Fair, Crazy For You).

The Fantasticks plays at The Snapple Theater Center’s Jerry Orbach Theater, 210 West 50th Street at Broadway. The performance schedule is as follows: Mondays at 8PM, Tuesdays at 8PM, Wednesdays at 2PM, Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2PM & 8PM and Sundays at 3PM & 7:30PM.

Tickets to The Fantasticks ($50 - $75) can be purchased by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862, by logging onto Ticketmaster.com, or by visiting the Snapple Theater Center box office at 210 West 50th Street at Broadway. A limited number of premium front row seats are available for each performance priced at $126.50.