WEST COAST PREMIERE OF NEWLY REIMAGINED MASTERWORK CONTINUES THROUGH NOVEMBER 19
Coachella Valley Repertory’s new production is a love story for all.
CATHEDRAL CITY, CA (October 22, 2023) – Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s THE FANTASTICKS: A LOVE STORY REIMAGINED received its West Coast Premiere on Wednesday, November 1 at COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY. The original version of THE FANTASTICKS, which premiered in 1960, was reconceived by Tom Jones between December 2020 and March 2021. By pretending to feud, two well intentioned mothers, whose families live next door to each other, hope to trick their young sons, Matt and Lewis, into falling in love. The mothers engage the mysterious El Gallo to facilitate their plan. The boys fall in love, grow apart and finally find their way back to each other. They learn that true love is grounded in reality, not in the romantic dreams of youth, and El Gallo’s admonition resonates: “without a hurt, the heart is hollow.” In the original version, two fathers sought to inspire love between one’s son and the other’s daughter.
“What I want is for people to laugh, and I want people to cry.
And I want people to feel different when it’s over.”
Tom Jones
The cast includes Eric Kunze (Broadway’s Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and Damn Yankees) playing the role of El Gallo; Lisa Vroman (Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, and Aspects of Love) playing Matt’s mother; and Wayne Bryan (Broadway’s Tintypes, Rodgers & Hart, and Good News) as Henry. The cast also features Sadé Adoyele as Lewis’ mother; Amber Lux Archer as the Mute, Erik Scott Romney as Mortimer, and introduces Jack Mastrianni as Lewis and Eric Phelps as Matt. Craig Wells, who led CVRep’s production of Hand To God last season, is the director. Chip Prince is music director. Set design is by Jimmy Cuomo, costumes by Emma Bibo, hair and makeup by Lynda Shaep, technical director and lighting designer is Moira Wilkie Whitaker, and stage manager is John M. Galo. Christi Waldon is the fight director.
THE FANTASTICKS is the longest running musical in New York since opening in 1960, the longest-running uninterrupted show of any kind in the United States and has been produced and loved around the world. It received an Obie Award and special Tony© Award. THE FANTASTICKS includes such touching songs as “Try to Remember,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” and many others. In this sensitive and illuminating new version, Jones, the original book writer and lyricist, preserved the beloved score and storyline while reconceiving the young lovers – Matt and Luisa – as Matt and Lewis.
Director Craig Wells, said, “When Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt conceived The Fantasticks back in 1960 the world was simpler. The show went on to become the longest running off-Broadway musical and audiences found joy in the simple story of love found, love loss, and love recovered. Tom’s beautiful prose and Harvey’s glorious music gave audiences a chance to remember the first time they fell in love. So why change it at all? Perhaps it’s because accepting that love is love for all people can still be challenging in 2023. Fear, discrimination, and actions based on those fears are being discussed daily in the news. Or perhaps it’s because we are more accepting of different kinds of love within the human experience than we were in 1960.”
CVRep’s 2023-2024 Season includes the West Coast Premiere of THE FANTASTICKS: A LOVE STORY REIMAGINED, the World Premiere of SUMMER SESSION WITH THE BONES BRIGADE (winner of CVRep’s 2023 Origins new works program), CABARET (1998 version), POTUS: OR BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE (a political farce direct from Broadway and suitable for both sides of the aisle), and George and Ira Gershwin’s timeless musical, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT.
THE FANTASTICKS: A LOVE STORY REIMAGINED runs November 1-19, 2023, with performances on Wednesdays & Saturdays at 2p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursdays & Fridays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Talkback Thursdays are held after the second Thursday performance, offering audience members the opportunity to discuss the plays with the directors and casts.
Single tickets are $50-$88 and available online at www.cvrep.org, by calling (760) 296-2966, ext. 115, or at the CVRep box office located at 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City. Box office hours are Monday-Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and two hours prior to performances. Group tickets are available and can be arranged by calling the box office. In order to better serve audiences, patrons requesting accessibility assistance are encouraged to contact the box office at least 24 hours prior to their ticketed performance.
The CVRep 2023-2024 Season is possible only because of the generous support of the following Season Sponsors: Eigh4Nine, Barbara Fremont, Sheila Harbet and Elissa Hapner, David Hood and George Sellers, Peggy Jacobs, John Monster, Willie Rhine, Andrew van Niekerk, Willie’s, and Whittier Trust.
Coachella Valley Repertory expresses its appreciation to Nancy and Tom Cunningham, sponsors of THE FANTASTICKS: A LOVE STORY REIMAGINED. KGAY Is our Media Sponsor.
CREATIVE TEAM & CAST
ADAM KARSTEN – Executive Artistic Director
In addition to being Coachella Valley Repertory’s executive artistic director, Adam Karsten is an award-winning director for stage and screen. He has earned a reputation for the creation of stylistic works and defined concepts. While directing and producing works for the Emmy™ Award-winning performing arts series, “Live From Lincoln Center” and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Karsten’s projects, programs, films, and documentaries have aired nationally and internationally. He has directed musicals, plays and other theatrical works Off-Broadway and regionally as well as touring productions as well as many Broadway workshops.
TOM JONES – Book and Lyrics
HARVEY SCHMIDT – Music
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt wrote THE FANTASTICKS for a summer theatre production at Barnard College. After its Off-Broadway opening in May 1960, it went on to become the longest running production in the history of the American stage and one of the most frequently produced musicals in the world. Their first Broadway show, 110 IN TH SHADE, was nominated for a Tony Award and was successfully revived by the New York City Opera starring Karen Ziemba, and later produced on Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company starring Audra MacDonald and John Cullum. I DO! I DO!, their two-character musical starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston, was a success on Broadway and on tour. A production of I DO! I DO! In Minneapolis played for 22 continuous years with the same two actors in leading roles.
For several years, Jones and Schmidt worked privately at Portfolio, their theatre workshop, concentrating on small-scale musicals in new and often untried forms. The most notable of these were CELEBRATION, which moved to Broadway, and PHILEMON, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award. They contributed incidental music and lyrics to the Off-Broadway play COLETTE, starring Zoe Caldwell, then later did a full-scale musical version under the title COLETTE COLLAGE. MIRETTE, their musical based on the award-winning children’s book, was presented at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. THE SHOW GOES ON, a musical revue featuring their theatre songs and starring Jones and Schmidt, and ROADSIDE, based on a play by Lynn Riggs about Uncle Billy and his traveling tent show on a Wild West adventure were presented at the York Theatre to great acclaim. The movie version of THE FANTASTICKS, for which they did the screenplay, was released by UA/MGM.
In addition to an Obie Award and a special Tony Award for THE FANTASTICKS, Jones and Schmidt were inducted into the Broadway Hall of Fame at the Gershwin Theatre, and their ‘stars’ were added to the Off-Broadway Walk OF Fame outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre. In 2012, they were inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and, in December of 2017, they received the Oscar Hammerstein Award. www.jonesandschmidt.com
CRAIG WELLS – Director
Wells worked with Tom Jones and Havey Schmidt on their revised production of Colette Collage. He has also performed the role of El Gallo. Last year, he directed CVRep’s powerful production of Hand to God.
Prior to moving to the Coachella Valley in 2020, Wells was on the faculty of the University of Vermont’ Department of Theatre and Dance. He taught classes in acting, improvisation, and musical theatre performance, and directed productions of Shakespeare in Love, Hand to God, Stupid F#@king Bird, and A Grand Night for Singing.
Wells was a professional actor in New York for 20 years, and made his Broadway debut in the musical Chess (original cast recording). He joined the Broadway cast of Les Misérables after more than a year with the National Tour. He performed regularly in the off-Broadway hit revue, Forbidden Broadway, as well as in Los Angeles (original cast recording Forbidden Broadway Vol. 3). He has appeared in off-Broadway productions of Closer Than Ever, Colette Collage, and Balancing Act (original cast recording).
His television credits include “All My Children,” “Another World,” and “Reading Rainbow”. He has performed lead roles at numerous regional theatres including Arena Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and The MUNY in St. Louis. While in Vermont, Craig returned to the stage performing lead roles in The Drowsy Chaperone, Unnecessary Farce, and Rumors at St. Michael’s Playhouse. On IG @cewellsdirector.
CHIP PRINCE – Music Director
Prince’s New York and National Tour keyboard and conducting credits include Les Misérable, Mary Poppins, Ragtime, The Fantasticks, Deaf West’s Big River, The Gershwin’s’ Porgy and Bess, Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, and Baz Luhrmann's La Bohème on Broadway. He served as associate conductor on the National Tour of Newsies and can be heard playing piano in the Broadway HD production. Prince was the accompanist for the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. Now settled in the Desert, he accompanies the men’s vocal group A Cabbello, participates in the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus, and directs its barbershop ensemble. Chip is active in English Country Dancing and Contra dancing as a dancer and musician.
KUNZE – El Gallo
Broadway: Les Misérable (Marius), Miss Saigon (Chris), Damn Yankees (Joe Hardy)
Off-Broadway: Leopard’s Leap
National Tours: Miss Saigon (Chris), Jesus Christ Superstar (title role), Whistle Down the Wind (The Man)
International Tours: The Fantasticks, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado
Kennedy Center: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
Additional repertory: Fun Home, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Little Mermaid, Grease, Godspell, Damn Yankees, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
JACK MASTRIANNI – Lewis
Broadway: A Christmas Story, The Musical
Additional Repertory: Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Patrick), A New Brain (Gordon), The Sound of Music (Rolf), The Butcher Boy (Joe)
Training: University of Michigan, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
ERIC PHELPS – Matt
Off-Broadway: Pip’s Island (Pip)
Regional: Leaving Brooklyn (Paul/lead), Grease (Ensemble)
Television: “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Star Trek: Phase Two”
Training: New York University: Tech School of the Arts, New Studio on Broadway
LISA VROMAN - Lewis’s Mother, Bessie Mae
Broadway: Phantom of the Opera (Christine), Aspects of Love
Off-Broadway/National Tours/Regional: Les Misérable (Fantine & Cosette),The Music Man (Marian Paroo), Kiss Me Kate (Lili Vanessi), Oklahoma (Laurey), The King and I (Anna), Of Thee I Sing (Mary Turner), The Most Happy Fella (Rosabella), Master Class (Maria Callas)
Opera: Regina (Birdie), HMS Pinafore (Josephine), Die Fledermaus (Rosalinda)
Concerts: Symphony Orchestras in San Francisco, Philadelphia (Philadelphia Orchestra and Philly Pops), Boston, Florida, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, BBC Concert Orchestra and SUNY Potsdam,
Television: Emmy Award-winning production of Sweeney Todd (Johanna)
SADÉ AYODELE – Matt’s Mother, Mildred
Repertory: Red Harlem (Lenore), United Self Defense (Nance), Dedications (Glinda), Antigone (Teiresias), Tartuffe (Dorine), The Little Mermaid (Sebastian), Two Trains Running (Risa), The Great Gatsby (Myrtle), A Christmas Carol (Belle), Neath the Hills of Bastogne (Emma)
Training: University of California, Riverside, Shakespeare & Company, Kalmenson & Kalmenson, John Rosenfeld studios
WAYNE BRYAN – Henry/Old Actor
Broadway: Tintypes, Rodgers & Hart, Good News
Television: “MASH,” “Keystone”/American History (Max Sennett), “Ring of Passion” (Nazi Youth Leader)
Producing Artistic Director: Music Theatre Wichita
Host: Wichita Arts
Director: Old Globe Theatre
ERIK SCOTT ROMNEY – Mortimer/The Man Who Dies
Regional: Something Rotten (Tom Snout), The Wizard of Oz (Hunk/Scarecrow), Cabaret (Emcee), Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (Igor & Victor von Frankenstein), Monty Python’s Spamalot (Patsy), Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), A Chorus Line (Mike)
AMBER LUX ARCHER – The Mute
Dance Repertoire: The Nutcracker, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Rite of Spring, Carmina Burana, Pinocchio, Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Allegro Brilliant, La Bayadere, Coppélia, Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green
Dance Companies: Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Columbia City Ballet, Ballethnic Dance Company, Staibdance, Fly on a Wall
Film and TV: Netflix Raising Dion (featured dancer), EVEN: the Film (Principal)
Regional: Skaking the Tree Theatre, Made to Dance in Burning Buildings (Principal/Ava)
Training: The Actors Lab, Atlanta Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet, Boston Ballet, Nashville Ballet, New Dialect, BODYTRAFFIC
COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY is a non-profit, professional regional theater. It is the only theater in California’s Coachella Valley that has Small Professional Theatre (SPT) status with Actor's Equity.
CVRep produces professional theater and educational programs that present thought provoking theatre of substance. It also offers professional level theatre training for young people and adults in its Conservatory, Writing Competition, and other meaningful, socially, and culturally relevant children's outreach programs. As a member of the Coachella Valley community, CVRep is committed to enriching the quality of life for all residents and to providing memorable experiences for the Valley’s many visitors.
THE FANTASTICKS: A LOVE STORY REIMAGINED
Dates & Times: Wed & Sat -Nov 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Thurs & Fri – Nov 2, 3. 9, 10, 16, 17 at 7 p.m.
Sun – Nov 5, 12. 19 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $50 - $88
To purchase: Online - www.cvrep.org
Phone - (760)296-2966, ext. 115
Box office - 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City
Groups: Phone - (760)296-2966, ext. 115
Facebook: http://facebook.com/CVRep
Twitter: @CVREP
Instagram: CVREP