A reimagined staging of The Fantasticks reframing its central romance as a contemporary gay love story.
This new production of The Fantasticks retains the musical's central narrative of two young neighbors whose love is secretly engineered by their parents, while reframing the story around Matt and Lewis, a same-sex central couple. The pair of orchestrating fathers from the original have been reimagined as mothers, and the production repositions the show's allegory of love, longing, and reconciliation within a contemporary context. Songs including Try to Remember, They Were You, and I Can See It remain part of the score.
The production features a revised book and lyrics by original writer Tom Jones, with music by Harvey Schmidt, and is directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, whose Broadway credits include Death Becomes Her and Newsies, for both of which he received Tony Awards. The staging reinterprets a long-running American musical theatre classic while preserving the structural and emotional framework of the original work.