Comments on: “The Fantasticks” was a fantastic investment

By: john savarese

john savarese — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:11:00 +0000

I played El Gallo in the off broadway production on Sullivan Street for 3 years during the 40th anniversay celebration. I have great memories and was sad when the original theatre closed. It was nice to be able to be on the same stage as Jerry Orbach and continue the role he started.

By: RickZ

RickZ — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:25:19 +0000

CV,

I recognized the name ‘Jerry Orbach’ in the credits for FX, where Orbach played a gangster about to go into witness protection (and the whole reason for the movie, the special effects ‘hit’ on the gangster/Orbach to convince everyone he’s dead, and the plots twists that result from that action).

By: CV

CV — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:50:13 +0000

RickZ,

I also have fond memories of seeing Jerry Orbach perform the lead role in 42nd Street back in the early 1980s.

It was one of the first Broadway shows I had ever seen. Until his Law and Order days came along, I thought of him primarily as a song and dance man. Oh, and as Jennifer Grey’s dad in the immortal Dirty Dancing 🙂

By: RickZ

RickZ — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:45:44 +0000

I saw Jerry Orbach on Broadway in the early ’80’s in 42nd Street. I didn’t really know ‘who’ he was at the time, just knew he could sing and dance.

By: F

Wed, 05 May 2010 01:57:44 +0000

Neo:

Thank you for helping me to remember. I saw the play in the very early sixties an my sister’s suggestion, and played the record so many times I think I wore out several needles (remember what they were?) and the record itself. It is still a favorite musical and I still think fondly of Orbach, a real pro. F

By: Jewel

Jewel — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:02:41 +0000

Being a September baby born just shy of the 50th anniversary of this musical, I can remember the song so well because my mother loved it so much and sang it all the time. I should celebrate my 50th by seeing it, sometime.

By: donb

donb — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:13:42 +0000

I first saw The Fantasticks at the Sullivan Street Playhouse (its original venue) in 1985, but the most touching review I ever was written by Amy Gamerman (who first saw it on Sept 14, 2001 — three days after 9/11/01) and published in the Wall Street Journal. One excerpt from it —

Then the actors took their places and the Narrator stepped forward to deliver the show’s first song. “Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh-so-mellow,” he sang quietly. “Try to remember when life was so tender that no one wept except the willow.” A familiar old ballad was suddenly transformed into a plangent elegy for the innocence we had all lost. … By the end of the song, I was in tears. So was one of the actors.

I wish I could still find the whole review.

By: Assistant Village Idiot

Assistant Village Idiot — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:56:42 +0000

I also played Mortimer, though nowhere nearly as well as my father did. He did physical comedy very well.

By: TexExec

TexExec — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:30:12 +0000

I never miss a chance to brag about Texas or Texans. The two men who created “The Fantasticks” were Texans who attended the University of Texas at Austin. F. Murray Abraham, a Texan, starred in one production. 🙂

It’s a great show and long time NYC tradition.

Not too bad for a couple of good ole boys from a red as red can be state. 🙂

By: Adrian Day

Adrian Day — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:19:35 +0000

My first awareness of this other dimenison to Jerry Orbach was discovering he was the singing candlestick in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”. His performance as the low-life underworld brother in “Crimes And Misdemeanors” is still my favorite performance, however.