Villiag* (for Villag*)

On January 13, 2002, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village (not Villiage) closed after 17,162 performances – that’s 42 years of performances, making it the longest running musical ever.

Fantasticks looks like a typo, but that’s actually how it’s spelled. It’s a fun show in which two neighbours try to trick their children into falling in love, by setting up a fake Romeo and Juliet scenario: the fathers fake a long-standing feud.

Over the course of its run, the cast included many actors who went on to be well known, such as Liza Minnelli, Elliott Gould, F. Murray Abraham, Glenn Close, and Kristin Chenoweth.

(Photo of the Sullivan Street Playhouse from TheFantasticks.com.)

Leanne Olson