This magical new West End production of the legendary New York phenomenon THE FANTASTICKS features a world class cast of musical theatre talent and an impressive creative team led by director Amon Miyamoto, best known for his Tony Award-nominated Broadway revival of Pacific Overtures.
The cast is led by musical theatre veterans Clive Rowe (Olivier Award, numerous National Theatre, West End and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Hackney Empire panto appearances), David Burt (Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award nominated for his many West End musical performances), respected stage and screen actor Edward Petherbridge (Olivier Award and twice Tony nominated), Hadley Fraser (male lead in Boublil and Schönberg’s Pirate Queen on Broadway), Paul Hunter and Carl Au. Up-and-coming stars Lorna Want (Evita , Footloose) and Luke Brady play the wide-eyed young lovers who want to experience the world.
Featuring the much-loved ‘Try to Remember’, which has been recorded by a host of great performers including Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and John Barrowman, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s classic score has completely new orchestrations for this production by Jason Carr (La Cage aux Folles, A Little Night Music).
THE FANTASTICKS opened in New York 50 years ago, making it the longest-running musical in the world. It has played in over 2,000 cities and towns in the USA and has been staged in 67 countries.
With a story that is a delicious mix of Edmond Rostand’s The Romancers, the star-crossed lovers of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Pyramus and Thisbe with a shade of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, it’s easy to see why it’s been such a huge worldwide success.
Cast biographies
Carl Au
Carl appeared in the London production of High School MusicaI at the Hammersmith Apollo. His other appearances include A Christmas Carol at Birmingham Rep and Sleeping Beauty at Oxford Playhouse.
Luke Brady
Luke is making his West End debut in this production of The Fantasticks. He has previously appeared in Nightfall at the Edinburgh Festival and in Tarantula in Petrol Blue at Albeburgh Music in Suffolk.
David Burt
David is a veteran of the West End, National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company where he has appeared in such productions as: The Beggars Opera (Olivier Nomination), Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida, Evita, Cats, Tommy, Les Miserables, Chess, La Traviata (Olivier Nomination), Edmund Kean (Evening Standard Award Nomination), Jesus Christ Superstar, Taboo, The Woman in White and Bad Girls: The Musical.
Hadley Fraser
Hadley’s West End credits include Les Miserables, The Far Pavilions, The Pirates of Penzance and Peter Pan. He has appeared in numerous regional theatre productions and in 2007 made his Broadway debut as the male lead in Boublil and Schonberg’s The Pirate Queen.
Paul Hunter
Paul is an actor, director and writer and founder of the hugely successful theatre company Told by an Idiot. Recent appearances include: The Farenheit Twins at The Barbican, Troilus and Cressida and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe and Noctural at The Gate Theatre.
Edward Petherbridge
A veteran of over 30 Television Productions, Edward Petherbridge is one of the UKs most highly respected actors. His stage appearances include numerous West End, Royal Shakespeare Company and Chichester Festival Theatre Productions.
Clive Rowe
Has appeared in Twelfth Night at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. Other theatre credits include: Mother Goose; Dick Whittington; Jack and the Beanstalk; Aladdin (Hackney Empire); Chicago (Adelphi Theatre); Caroline, or Change (National Theatre); As You Like It (Ambassador Theatre Group); Simply Heavenly (Young Vic and Trafalgar Studios). He has played Morvin in Dr Who and Clifford 'Shrek' Beale in All The Small Things for the BBC. Other television credits include Tracy Beaker; Dalziel and Pascoe; American Voices; The Harry Hill Show. His radio credits include: Friday Night is Music Night; Member of the Wedding; Cymbeline; Four Sides of Sondheim.
Lorna Want
Lorna’s first theatre credit was the role of Cosette in Les Miserables aged nine. Since then she has played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet The Musical, Ariel Moore in Footloose The Musical, The Mistress in Evita and Gabriella in High School Musical.