Edward Watts to Replace Ben Davis as El Gallo in The Link Theatre's THE FANTASTICKS

Broadway veteran, Edward Watts will star as El Gallo in The Link Theatre's inaugural production of Tom Jonesand Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks. Watts previously played the role for more than 1,000 performances in the Off-Broadway production in New York City. The first professional theatre company in Northeast Arkansas, The Link is a new non-profit theater company located in Jonesboro, AR. Broadway veteran Matt Cavenaugh will direct the musical, which will play for three nights only starting Friday, March 6, 2020 at The Glass Factory (313 W Huntington Avenue, Jonesboro, AR). Watts replaces the previously announced Ben Davis who had to exit the production due to conflicts with his shooting schedule.

A veteran of Broadway, Edward Watts has appeared in the Broadway and New York productions of Scandalous as Robert and David, Superman in It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, Joe in The Most Happy Fella, and Steve in Show Boat. He has also appeared in the touring companies of The Book of Mormon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Les Misérables, and The Little Mermaid. Favorite regional credits include Harold Hill in The Music Man (Goodspeed Musicals), Joe Bradley in Roman Holiday (Guthrie Theater), Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music (Michigan Opera Theatre), Thomas Jefferson in 1776 (Goodspeed Musicals), and Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Shakespeare Theatre Company - Helen Hayes Award nomination). TV audiences will recognize him from "NCIS: New Orleans," "Quantico," "The Sopranos," and "Rescue Me".

Watts is joined in The Fantasticks by Anna-Marie Wright as Luisa, Josh Pryor as Matt, Damon Wright as Hucklebee, John Mixon as Bellomy, Matt Carey as Henry, Carson Horton as Mortimer, and Tee Murphy as The Mute.

Jason Eschhofen will serve as musical director and Claire Abernathy will design the sets and costumes.

The Fantasticks, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, is the world's longest running musical. The original off-Broadway production ran a total of 42 years from 1960 - 2002 before being revived in 2005 for an additional 11 years. It's a funny and romantic musical about a boy, a girl, and their two fathers who try to keep them apart. The narrator, El Gallo, asks the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. The boy and the girl fall in love, grow apart and finally find their way back to each other after realizing the truth in El Gallo's words that, "without a hurt, the heart is hollow." The famous score, which includes the classics Try to Remember, They Were You, and Soon It's Gonna Rain, is as timeless as the story itself.

Tickets for The Fantasticks start at $35 and are now available online at thelinktheatre.org.