THE FANTASTICKS Celebrates 20,000th Performance Today

THE FANTASTICKS, the world's longest running musical, will celebrate a record breaking 20,000th New York performance, today, September 15, 2013, announced producers Catherine Russell and Al Parinello. The milestone will mark the first time a production (on Broadway or off-Broadway) has ever reached 20,000 performances and will be commemorated in a month long celebration that includes performing at Broadway in Bryant Park and Little Italy, and with The Museum of The City of New York's future cyber gallery highlighting the history of the production.

An initiative has been established with The Museum of The City of New York and The Fantasticks to establish a unique cyber gallery highlighting the history of the production via a tour through the amazing survival story of the longest running musical in the world. The Gallery will pay homage to the amazing 53 year International success of The Fantasticks including its record-breaking achievement of 20,000 performances in New York City, an accomplishment achieved by no other off-Broadway production.

The gallery would highlight unique artifacts such as the opening night Fantasticks Playbill showing Jerry Orbach in the roll of El Gallo and Rita Gardner in the role of Luisa. Other highlights will include the original New York Times clipping, a review of the shows opening night (May 3rd, 1960), written by Brooks Atkinson who questions the show's ability to survive. Other material will highlight some of the many stars who've played roles in THE FANTASTICKS, over the years such as Liza Minnelli, Richard Chamberlain, F. Murray Abraham, Bert Lahr, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ricardo Montalban, Bert Convy, Kristin Chenoweth etc.

A modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, THE FANTASTICKS (music by Harvey Schmidt, book, lyrics, and direction by Tom Jones) is the quintessential story of a boy and girl who fall in love and then 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.

The cast of THE FANTASTICKS features George Dvorsky as the Narrator (El Gallo), Jim Schubin as The Boy (Matt), Ali Ewoldt as The Girl (Luisa), Dan Sharkey as The Boy's Father (Hucklebee), Joseph Dellger as The Girl's Father (Bellomy), MacIntyre Dixon as The Old Actor (Henry), Michael Nostrand as The Man Who Dies (Mortimer) and Daniel Rowan as The Mute. The production also features Tom Flagg, Rita Markova, and William Thomas Evans.

Robert Felstein is the Musical Director / Pianist and Jacqueline Kerrod is the Harpist. Production Stage Manager is Paul Blankenship and the Assistant Stage Manager is John Thomas Waite.

Performances of THE FANTASTICKS are on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8PM, Wednesdays at 2PM, Saturdays at 2PM & 8PM and Sundays at 3PM & 7:30PM.

Tickets to THE FANTASTICKS are priced at $76.50 and can be purchased by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862, by logging onto www.Ticketmaster.com or by visiting the Snapple Theater Center box office. A limited number of premium front row seats are available for each performance priced at $126.50.

THE FANTASTICKS plays at The Jerry Orbach Theater in the Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street at Broadway. The box office phone number is (212) 921-7862. www.SnappleTheater.com

For more information, visit www.FantasticksOnBroadway.com, or follow the show on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fantasticks and Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheFantasticks.