"We are born astride a grave - WaynesWorldStage.com

Chapter 7The Fantasticks opened at the tiny 150seat Sullivan Street Playhouse in GreenwichVillage in the spring of 1960, several monthsbefore I arrived in New York. It didn’t get verygood reviews. I had no interest in seeing it; Ithought it was a musical revue. I'd been told thatthe actors would beg people on the street to comeand see it free of charge. A little girl who livednext door to the theatre would come and see italmost every night. As the story goes, ten yearslater, the little girl played "The Girl," the onlyfemale part in the play. As I write this, nearly 40years later, The Fantasticks is listed on many arésumé. Not only is it the longest running show inAmerican theatre history, it has probably beenperformed in little theatres and college theatresaround the world, in almost every languageknown to man, more than any other play inhistory. When I first auditioned for it in 1966, itwas already the longest running show in NewYork history. One month, in the theatre listingsof The New Yorker magazine, some creativeemployee who edited the listings decided to dropthe usual blurb that said something like "boymeets girl." Instead, he put in, "Stately, plumpBuck Mulligan …,” the opening lines of JamesJoyce's Ulysses. For the next several months, thelisting would continue with the subsequent text135