Lewis Cleale to Join Off-Broadway Company of The Fantasticks

Lewis Cleale, who recently appeared as Sir Galahad in the Broadway company of Spamalot, will assume the role of El Gallo in the off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks beginning September 15. Cleale replaces Dennis Parlato, who will play his final performance at the Snapple Theatre Center on September 14.

Cleale's other Broadway credits include Amour, Once Upon a Mattress and Swinging on a Star, for which he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination. He appeared off-Broadway in Time and Again, A New Brain, Big City Rhythm and in the Encores! production of Call Me Madam opposite Tyne Daly. National tours include Sunset Boulevard opposite Petula Clark and South Pacific with Robert Goulet. His regional credits include Passion and 1776 at Ford's Theatre.

Featuring a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, The Fantasticks is a romantic comedy about a boy and girl who fall in the love at the hands of their meddling fathers, only to be separated and forced to confront the harsh realities of the real world. The show played a record-breaking 17,162 performances in its original run at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village.

The Fantasticks also stars Nick Spangler, Margaret Anne Florence, Tom Flagg, Gene Jones, Jordan Nichols, Michael Nostrand, Evy Ortiz, Steve Routman, John Thomas Waite and Scott Willis.