After meeting at the University of Texas at Austin, Jones and Schmidt began work on a sort of reverse Romeo and Juliet musical inspired by Edmond Rostand’s 1894 work Les Romanesques. In it, two dads pretend to feud so their children will rebel, meet, and fall in love.

Jones had previously worked with a different collaborator to put a Western spin on the source material.

The Fantasticks musical, named after a 1900 English adaptation of Rostand’s play, ran as part of a weeklong slate of one-acts at Barnard. Jones and Schmidt shaped the story as a small, blank-stage musical rather than a big Broadway-esque production.

The first performance of The Fantasticks began at midnight at the Sullivan Street Playhouse on April 23, a highly theatrical entrance for director Word Baker’s staging.

Quick recap: El Gallo narrates as Matt and Luisa fall in love. Their dads, Hucklebee and Bellomy, secretly arrange their relationship. Henry and Mortimer stage a kidnapping, while the Mute assists. The manufactured conflict helps Matt and Luisa mature.

The cast included Jerry Orbach as El Gallo, Rita Gardner as Luisa, Kenneth Nelson as Matt, and Jones — listed via pseudonym — as Henry/the Old Actor.

Despite mixed reviews, the show caught on thanks to word-of-mouth and hummable hits. A cast album was recorded on June 6.

On September 7, the musical premiered at London’s Apollo Theatre, where it ran for 44 performances. In 1990, an open-air production was presented in Regent’s Park.

A streamlined version of the musical was broadcast for the Hallmark Hall of Fame on October 18. The cast included John Davidson, Stanley Holloway, Bert Lahr, Ricardo Montalbán, and Susan Watson, who’d been in the Barnard production.

Fifteen years into its run, the show was honored for its massive cultural impact as the Obie Awards celebrated their own 20th anniversary.

As the show hummed along at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, it became one of the most widely produced musicals in the U.S., with productions popping up not only at traditional theatres, but at the White House, Yellowstone National Park, and even globally with the Peace Corps. In recognition of the musical’s reach and longevity, it received Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre.

Director Michael Ritchie’s film version had finished shooting early in 1995, with a theatrical release set for Thanksgiving. The cast included Joel Grey as Bellomy, Barnard Hughes as Henry, Jean Louisa Kelly as Luisa, and Joey McIntyre as Matt. Due to the tepid response from preview audiences, however, MGM shelved the movie.

Due to a contractual obligation to Jones and Schmidt to give the film a theatrical release, the movie finally opened in four theatres in September 2000. This version was edited by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), who cut out 23 minutes of footage.

After 17,162 performances over nearly 42 years, the original Fantasticks production closed. It ended on a record-setting high note: By then, it was the world’s longest-running musical ever.

NYC wasn’t Fantasticks-free for long. A revival directed by Jones began performances July 29 at the Snapple Theater Center on W. 50th St. Future Tony Award winner Santino Fontana (Tootsie) made his Off-Broadway debut as Matt opposite Sara Jean Ford as Luisa.

Ritchie’s original, 109-minute version of The Fantasticks film was released on Blu-ray.

The 2006 revival ended after 4,390 performances. Across the original and revival engagements, The Fantasticks accumulated 21,552 New York performances.

Schmidt died shortly afterward, on February 28, 2018.

Michael Lluberes, director of the Flint Repertory Theater in Michigan, suggested framing The Fantasticks through a gay lens. Jones okayed the idea and stepped up to revise the musical accordingly. Luisa became Lewis, and, to avoid the show becoming exclusively male, feuding fathers became meddling mothers.

The Flint production was well-received, but there was more work to do. Other developmental runs took place in several cities including Provincetown, Massachusetts and Cathedral City, California. An ailing Jones didn’t see these runs, but he kept working on the revised show until he died on August 11, 2023.

As announced in January, the reimagined Fantasticks, newly choreographed and directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, Schmigadoon!), begins performances October 22 at the Hayes Theater.

The cast includes Maxim Chlumecky as Matt, Nathan Levy as Lewis, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Matt’s mom, Ruthie Ann Miles as Lewis’s mom, Zane Phillips as El Gallo, David Patrick Kelly as the Old Actor, Kevin del Aguila as Mortimer, and Ahmad Simmons as the Mute.

It’s the latest milestone for a small-but-mighty musical that’s the very embodiment of its own song “Much More.”

Get The Fantasticks tickets now.