Jeremiah James Joins THE FANTASTICKS as El Gallo

West End leading man and recording artist Jeremiah James will join the cast of The Fantasticks on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. He succeeds Edward Watts in the role of El Gallo.

With over 60 professional theater credits to his name, Jeremiah James’ previous roles include Billy Bigelow in the West End revival of Carousel at the Savoy Theater, Bobby Child in Crazy for You (L. A. Ovation Award Best Actor nominee), the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast at Ordway, Doctor Shocker in The Gay Bride of Frankenstein at The REP (Spotlight Best Actor Nominee), Alvaro Mangiacavallo in The Rose Tattoo at River City Rep and George Gibb in Our Town at Theatricum Botanicum. Touring credits include Curly in the Cameron Mackintosh/Trevor Nunn revival of Oklahoma! 1st National Tour.

James’ radio appearances include “Elaine Paige on Sunday” (BBC Radio), The Alan Carr Show (BBC Radio) and “Friday Night is Music Night” (BBC Radio). TV credits include “The Alan Titchmarsh Show,” “This Morning” on ITV, The BBC New Year’s Eve countdown, “GMTV,” Port Charles (ABC) and “General Hospital” (ABC). Concert appearances include “The Royal Variety Performance,” For HRH Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, "Music on Fire", "Proms in Hyde Park" as well as many others. Film credits include Agent X in Mayday starring Geoffery Lewis. James’ recordings include Teatro (Sony/BMG) and Tupelo (Yellow Sound Label).

A modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, The Fantasticks is the quintessential story of a boy and girl who go out into the world and discover that with love comes responsibility, with independence comes danger, and with experience comes joy. The score, which includes the hit songs “Try To Remember”, “They Were You” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain”, is as timeless as the story itself.

When The Fantasticks (music by Harvey Schmidt; book/lyrics/direction by Tom Jones) opened in 1960 at a tiny theater on New York City’s Sullivan Street, no one ever dreamed it would run for 17,162 performances and become the world’s longest-running musical. Since then there have been over 11,000 productions in more than 3,000 U.S. cities and towns and in 67 countries, from Afghanistan to Iran to Zimbabwe. The show has been performed at The White House and has survived eleven U.S. Presidents beginning with President Eisenhower. Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Israel have all seen multiple productions. The Fantasticks has been translated into numerous languages including Pashto, Dari, Icelandic, Arabic, Hebrew, Magyar and Mandarin.

The Fantasticks has played all fifty states, plus Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. It has been performed for the Peace Corps in Africa, at the Shawnee Mission in Kansas, the Menninger Foundation, Olympian Fields, Yellowstone National Park and the White Sands Missile Range. It was performed in Mandarin by the Peking Opera, and in 1990 under the auspices of the United States State Department it played for the first time in Russia. There have been two film versions, one in 1964 and one in 2000, and the list of notable individuals who have appeared in the show through the years includes Jerry Orbach, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Harrison Ford, Liza Minnelli, F. Murray Abraham, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, American Idol finalist Anthony Fedorov and Amazing Race winner Nick Spangler.