TRY TO REMEMBER

TRY TO REMEMBER

Every year in our dance recital program, I write a "Note From the Director". In Spring 2002, we decided our theme would be "United We Dance" in honor of 911. When I was researching for material, I found a story about "The Fantastics" on the internet and shared it with my students and their parents. This story is just amazing...

On May 3rd 1960 in Greenwich Village, New York, "The Fantasticks" opened in a hole-in-the-wall theatre called the Sullivan Street Playhouse. There were recommendations from "friends" to close the show on Opening Night after the New York Times and the Tribune gave it mixed reviews.

It was a musical fable, loosely based on "Romeo and Juliet" It had a tiny cast of five and set that consisted of a trunk, a banner and a cardboard moon. And yet, that very same simplicity made "The Fantasticks" so great and delighted audiences, both young and old.

By the way..."The Fantasticks" never did close. Those same "friends" who recommened that the show should close quickly, told one friend and then another and soon it became a huge hit that has been delighting audiences for generations. It actually remained open for 42 years and was titled the longest running musical, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, "The Fantasticks" closed for several days, as did pretty much all theatre in New York. Ground Zero was located three blocks away from the Sullivan Street Theatre and when the play re-opened, three days later, no one realized how the musical would take on new meaning. Especially the song, "Try to Remember." That beautiful song that was heard for 42 years, at the beginning of each production, would never again sound quite the same....

Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September when grass was green and grain so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September when you were a young and callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember, then follow.

Try to remember when life was so tender that no one wept except the willow
Try to remember when life was so tender that dreams were kept beside your pillow
Try to remember when life was so tender that love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember and if you remember, then follow.

Deep in December, it's nice to remember. Although you know the snow will follow
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,without a hurt, the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember the fire of September that made you mellow
Deep in December our hearts should remember, then follow.

On Sunday January 13, 2002, after 17,162 performances, "The Fantasticks" took it's final bow. The tiny little musical about young love, with out a lot of gimmicks, that never quite made it to Broadway, left the Sullivan Street Theatre forever. But it left behind one special song that will stay in our hearts for all eternity. "Try To Remember" has become the official anthem for Broadway and September 11th. It pleads with us to reflect on simpler times and to remember our dreams. We should never forget the horrible events that happened on that day, but we should take pride in the amazing way it has united us all. It has united Broadway and Off Broadway; all of New York, our Nation and even our "little dance Studio". And today we will all be united in what we know best: Dance!