Fantasticks 50th Anniversary Celebration Continues with Night of a 1,000 Luisas

Long-running off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks will present the benefit concert Night of 1,000 Luisas, a night of song featuring a bevy of performers who've played the role of (yes, you guessed it) show ingenue Luisa on November 4. The event, which will take place at The Fantastick's Jerry Orbach Theater, will feature Luisas from every decade since the show's original off-Broadway openining in 1960. Broadway alum Kim Moore directs.

Among the performers are Alice Cannon (Company), Glory Crampton (Phantom), Karen Culliver (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Carole Demas (Grease), original Luisa Rita Gardner (Pal Joey), Jean Louisa Kelly (Luisa in the 2000 film version of The Fantasticks, Broadway’s Into the Woods), Betsy Morgan (The Little Mermaid), Marty Morris (A Little Night Music), Allison Munn (TV’s What I Like About You), Sarah Rice (Sweeney Todd) and Sara Schmidt (Jersey Boys).

Night of 1,000 Luisas is the latest piece of The Fantasticks’ yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary. Proceeds from the event will benefit Bideawee, an animal welfare organization.

The Fantasticks, featuring music by Harvey Schmidt, and book/lyrics/direction by Tom Jones, is the classic romantic comedy about a boy and girl who fall in and out of love at the hands of their meddling fathers. The score includes such Broadway hits as “Try To Remember,” “They Were You” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.”

Having played a record-breaking 17,162 performances in its original run at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, The Fantasticks is now playing in the heart of Times Square at the Snapple Theater Center.