Showing posts with label The Fantasticks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Fantasticks. Show all posts
March 14, 2026
September 11, 2023
January 16, 2021
December 10, 2020
December 19, 2018
Robert Goulet articles/mentions
August 21, 2018
Jerry Orbach articles/mentions
Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer. His professional career began on the New York stage, both on and off-Broadway, where he created roles such as El Gallo in the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks (1960) and became the first performer to sing that show's standard Try To Remember.
Viewfinder links:
The Fantasticks
Jerry Orbach - January 01, 1970
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
September 3, 2017
20,000 Vinyl LPs 105: 110 In the Shade
vinyl LP album cover
photo by Styrous®
On hot days like we've been having I always think of this album/musical comedy. It is about a flim-flam man who has spent his life bilking innocent farmers out of what little money they might have; then love shoots his sensual arrow deep into the scoundrel's heart.
vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®
It is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones (not the crooner), and music by Harvey Schmidt. After the success of The Fantasticks (link below), the project was the composing team's first for Broadway. There are some of the most wonderful Broadway tunes from it. Many long forgotten but truly wonderful. Another Hot Day is one of those songs; it sets the tone for the rest of the show. A slow and languid harmonica intro captures the oppressive heat of the drought.
Little Red Hat is a delightful romp with the romantic Snookie singing of his sweeite. The coule of kids are adorable. While Lizzie pulls out all the stops with the hysterical, Raunchy; a mock strip song performed totally clothed. It's just great!
RCA Victor
released an original Broadway cast recording of this production on
November 3, 1963, one recording in stereo; one in mono. This copy is the mono version. Both recordings
were identical; each having 16 tracks.
vinyl LP label, side 1
photo by Styrous®
Based on Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, and her relationships with local sheriff File, a cautious divorcé who fears being hurt again, and charismatic con man Bill Starbuck, posing as a rainmaker
who promises the locals he can bring relief to the drought-stricken
area. Nash's book is faithful to his original play, although all the
interior scenes were moved outdoors to allow for the addition of
townspeople for ensemble numbers and dances. Many of Jones' lyrics come
directly from Nash's play.
The cast included Robert Horton as Starbuck, Inga Swenson as Lizzie, and Stephen Douglass as File, with Will Geer, Lesley Ann Warren, and Gretchen Cryer in supporting roles.
vinyl LP, side 2
photo by Styrous®
The play was previously made into a movie in 1956. It stars Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman. Holliman won a Golden Globe Award for his performance. The film was later remade in Hindi as Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen.
vinyl LP label, side 2
photo by Styrous®
Side 1:
A1 – Stephen Douglass And Townspeople* Gonna Be Another Hot Day – 4:04
A2 – Will Geer, Steve Roland And Scooter Teague Lizzie's Comin' Home – 2:12
A3 – Inga Swenson Love, Don't Turn Away – 1:59
A4 – Stephen Douglass, Will Geer And Steve Roland Poker Polka – 2:02
A5 – Townspeople* Hungry Men – 2:24
A6 – Robert Horton (5) And Townspeople* Rain Song – 3:52
A7 – Inga Swenson And Robert Horton (5) You're Not Foolin' Me – 4:00
A8 – Inga Swenson And Will Geer Raunchy – 2:46
Side 2:
B1 – Inga Swenson And Stephen Douglass A Man And A Woman – 3:25
B2 – Inga Swenson Old Maid – 3:22
B3 – George Church, Scooter Teague, Lesley Warren And Townspeople* Everything Beautiful Happens At Night – 1:55
B4 – Robert Horton (5) Melisande – 4:25
B5 – Inga Swenson Simple Little Things – 3:29
B6 – Lesley Warren And Scooter Teague Little Red Hat – 2:24
B7 – Inga Swenson And Robert Horton (5) Is It Really Me? – 2:04
B8 – Stephen Douglass, Robert Horton (5) And Inga Swenson Wonderful Music
B9 – Full Company* Rain Song Finale – 3:19
Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Radio Corporation Of America
Recorded At – Webster Hall
Credits:
Directed By – Joseph Anthony
Engineer – Ernie Oelrich*
Illustration – Oscar Liebman
Lyrics By – Tom Jones (5)
Music By – Harvey Schmidt
Producer – Andy Wiswell
Supervised By – George Marek*
Written-By – N. Richard Nash
Notes:
Recorded At – Webster Hall, New York City
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A): PPRS-6184-1S
Matrix / Runout (Side B): PPRS-6185-1S
Label: RCA Victor – LSO-1085
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1963
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Viewfinder links:
Golden Globe Award
YouTube links:
Styrous® ~ Sunday, September 3, 2017
May 3, 2017
20,000 Vinyl LPs 85: The Fantasticks
program detail
detail photo by Styrous®
On May 3, 1960, the musical, The Fantasticks, opened in New York City, NY. The show's original off-Broadway
production ran a total of 42 years and 17,162 performances, making it
the world's longest-running musical.
vinyl LP album front cover
photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®
I saw a production staged by the
Ghirardelli Theater in the Square at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco
nine years later in 1969 (link below). I remember thinking the small
production (it had a very sparse set, a solo piano and some percussion, as I recall) gave it
an intimate and personal experience. I had never seen such a small production
for a musical before. The closest were the shows at the Old Spaghetti Factory in San Francisco where they produced the "Macaroni Review". One of the shows I saw there was, San Francisco's Burning, a musical about the 1906 earthquake. The cast did a remarkable job of lurching and jerking across the stage and singing during the title song.
Ghirardelli Theater in the Square
program detail
detail photo by Styrous®
The pressing of the album I bought is a reissue from 1972 and is a gatefold format. It has quite a bit of detailed production information.
vinyl LP, 1972 gatefold issue
photo by Styrous®
The Fantasticks
vinyl LP, 1972 gatefold issue, interior
photo by Styrous®
The musical, music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play The Romancers (Les Romanesques) by Edmond Rostand
(link below), concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and
Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud (link to plot below).
The Fantasticks premiered at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, a small Off-Broadway theatre in New York City's Greenwich Village, on May 3, 1960, with Jerry Orbach as El Gallo, Rita Gardner as Luisa, Kenneth Nelson as Matt, and librettist Tom Jones
(under a pseudonym) as the Old Actor, among the cast members. The
sparse set and semicircular stage created an intimate and immediate
effect. The play is highly stylized and combines old-fashioned
showmanship, classic musical theatre, commedia dell'arte and Noh
theatrical traditions. The original production was directed by Word
Baker and was produced on a very low budget. The producers spent $900 on the set
and $541 on costumes, at a time when major Broadway shows would cost
$250,000.
The original set designer, costumer, prop master, and lighting designer was Ed Wittstein, who performed all four jobs for a total of only $480 plus $24.48 a week.
The set was similar to that for Our Town; Wittstein designed a raised stationary platform anchored by six poles. It resembled a traveling players' wagon, like a pageant wagon. As for a curtain, he hung various small false curtains across the platform at various times during the play. He also made a sun/moon out of cardboard. One side was painted bright yellow (the sun) and the other was black with a crescent of white (the moon). The sun/moon was hung from a nail in one of the poles and is referred to in the libretto. The orchestra consists of a piano and sometimes also a harp, with the harpist also sometimes playing some percussion instruments.
The original set designer, costumer, prop master, and lighting designer was Ed Wittstein, who performed all four jobs for a total of only $480 plus $24.48 a week.
The set was similar to that for Our Town; Wittstein designed a raised stationary platform anchored by six poles. It resembled a traveling players' wagon, like a pageant wagon. As for a curtain, he hung various small false curtains across the platform at various times during the play. He also made a sun/moon out of cardboard. One side was painted bright yellow (the sun) and the other was black with a crescent of white (the moon). The sun/moon was hung from a nail in one of the poles and is referred to in the libretto. The orchestra consists of a piano and sometimes also a harp, with the harpist also sometimes playing some percussion instruments.
images from the 1960 production
The Original 1960 Cast Of The Fantasticks: Jerry Orbach (El Gallo, the bandit-narrator), top; Center row, from left: Hugh Thomas (the Girl's father), Rita Gardner, (The Girl), William Larsen, (The Boy's Father); Bottom row, from left: Richard Stauffer (The Mute), Kenneth Nelson (The Boy), George Curley (The Cockney Indian).
Jerry Orbach, Rita Gardner & Kenneth Nelson
signature image from the show
The song from the production that became a monumental hit, a truly beautiful melody with nostalgic lyrics (link below), is Try To Remember which was sung by Orbach who created the role of El Gallo in the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks (1960) and became the first performer to sing that tune. He was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his
death as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a "versatile stage and film actor".
The production closed on January 13, 2002, after 17,162 performances. It is the world's longest-running musical
and the longest-running uninterrupted show of any kind in the United
States. Other notable actors who appeared in the Off-Broadway and
touring production throughout its long run included David Canary, Robert Goulet, Richard Chamberlain, John Carradine, Ed Ames, Liza Minnelli, Elliott Gould, F. Murray Abraham, Glenn Close, Keith Charles, Kristin Chenoweth, Bert Convy, Eileen Fulton, Lore Noto (the show's long-time producer), Dick Latessa, and Martin Vidnovic.
vinyl LP record sleeve, photo by Styrous®
According to The New York Times, "The Fantasticks
is one of the most widely produced [musicals] in the world, with more
than 11,000 productions, by 2010, in 3,000 cities and towns in all 50
states, as well as in 67 countries. The Fantasticks has been performed at The White House, for the Peace Corps in Africa, at the Shawnee Methodist Mission in Kansas, the Menninger Foundation, 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.
Various – The Fantasticks - Original Cast Album
Label: MGM Records – SE-3872
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1963
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Act One (In The Moonlight)
1 - Orchestra* Overture - 2:00
2 - Jerry Orbach - Try To Remember - 2:48
3 - Rita Gardner - Much More - 2:31
4 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - Metaphor - 4:13
5 - William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - Never Say No - 2:14
6 - Jerry Orbach, William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - It Depends On What You Pay - 4:19
7 - Jerry Orbach - You Wonder How These Things Begin - 1:16
8 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - Soon It's Gonna Rain - 4:37
Rape Ballet - Happy Ending
Side 2:
1a - The Company*, Rape Ballet - 2:26
1b - Hugh Thomas (3), William Larsen, Rita Gardner & Kenneth Nelson - Happy Ending - 0:54
Act Two (In The Sunlight)
2 - Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, William Larsen, Hugh Thomas (3) - This Plum Is Too Ripe - 3:33
3 - Kenneth Nelson & Jerry Orbach - I Can See It - 4:04
4 - William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - Plant A Radish - 2:31
5 - Jerry Orbach, Rita Gardner & Co.* - Round And Round - 5:54
6 - Jerry Orbach - There Is A Curious Paradox - 0:30
7 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - They Were You - 2:40
8 - Jerry Orbach & Company* - Try To Remember (Reprise) - 2:03
Companies, etc.
Record Company – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
Credits:
Bass, Cello – Frank Martenez
Directed By [Musical Direction] – Julian Stein
Harp – Beverly Mann
Lyrics By – Tom Jones (5)
Music By – Harvey Schmidt
Percussion – Bobby Rosengarden
Photography By – Robert Benton
Piano – Julian Stein, Robert Mac Namee
Producer – Lore Noto
Producer [Associate] – Dorothy Olim, Sheldon Baron
Notes:
Black label version, Made in U.S.A.
Release date from Goldmine Standard Catalog
Label: MGM Records – SE-3872
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1963
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Act One (In The Moonlight)
1 - Orchestra* Overture - 2:00
2 - Jerry Orbach - Try To Remember - 2:48
3 - Rita Gardner - Much More - 2:31
4 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - Metaphor - 4:13
5 - William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - Never Say No - 2:14
6 - Jerry Orbach, William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - It Depends On What You Pay - 4:19
7 - Jerry Orbach - You Wonder How These Things Begin - 1:16
8 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - Soon It's Gonna Rain - 4:37
Rape Ballet - Happy Ending
Side 2:
1a - The Company*, Rape Ballet - 2:26
1b - Hugh Thomas (3), William Larsen, Rita Gardner & Kenneth Nelson - Happy Ending - 0:54
Act Two (In The Sunlight)
2 - Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, William Larsen, Hugh Thomas (3) - This Plum Is Too Ripe - 3:33
3 - Kenneth Nelson & Jerry Orbach - I Can See It - 4:04
4 - William Larsen & Hugh Thomas (3) - Plant A Radish - 2:31
5 - Jerry Orbach, Rita Gardner & Co.* - Round And Round - 5:54
6 - Jerry Orbach - There Is A Curious Paradox - 0:30
7 - Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner - They Were You - 2:40
8 - Jerry Orbach & Company* - Try To Remember (Reprise) - 2:03
Companies, etc.
Record Company – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
Credits:
Bass, Cello – Frank Martenez
Directed By [Musical Direction] – Julian Stein
Harp – Beverly Mann
Lyrics By – Tom Jones (5)
Music By – Harvey Schmidt
Percussion – Bobby Rosengarden
Photography By – Robert Benton
Piano – Julian Stein, Robert Mac Namee
Producer – Lore Noto
Producer [Associate] – Dorothy Olim, Sheldon Baron
Notes:
Black label version, Made in U.S.A.
Release date from Goldmine Standard Catalog
Net Links:
Try To Remember lyrics
Ghirardelli Theater in the Square program
The Fantasticks website
The Fantasticks plot
Literary Kicks ~ Edmond Rostand and the Fantasticks
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