Is ‘Mystic Pizza’ headed to Broadway?
A chat with Ben Fankhauser, now featured in Paper Mill production
Ben Fankhauser really hopes that lightning does strike twice.
In 2011, just months after graduating from Ithaca College with a musical theater degree, Mr. Fankhauser landed the plum role of Davey in “Newsies.” The musical had its world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn before its successful Broadway run.
Mr. Fankhauser is back at the Paper Mill, this time playing Tim in a musical adaptation of “Mystic Pizza.” Despite the way everything worked out for “Newsies,” “Mystic” is not assured a Broadway run.
“I think everything is open,” Mr. Fankhauser told me. “They might want to do a transfer. They’re thinking about the West End,” London’s Broadway equivalent. “They’re thinking about a first-class tour. I think they’re just trying to see what traction it picks up in New Jersey and go from there.”
Mr. Fankhauser, 35, is zooming from Vero Beach, Fla., where “Mystic” is running at the Riverside Theater. Typical of many theatrical productions, the show has had a long road toward (hopefully) the Great White Way. It had a run at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine in 2023, and another in Los Angeles last year, before Vero Beach.
“I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen,” Mr. Fankhauser said. “And I think that’s the way to do it. Look, every show wants to go to Broadway. But that’s too much pressure. The creative process actually suffers under that model, because you are trying to make a product that appeases investors. So you often end up making a product that’s a little stiff and a little stale.
“What I love about the creative team is that they have removed the pressure by saying, ‘We just want to make a great show.’ We have a great script. We have a great musical catalogue. And it’s a great intellectual property from the Julia Roberts movie.”
Like many young musical theater performers, Mr. Fankhauser has spent plenty of time on the road. He took a year off from college and toured in “Spring Awakening.” That earned him his Equity card. More recently, he played Barry Mann for two years in the first national tour of “Beautiful: The Carol King Musical.” And, truth be told, he doesn’t mind it.
The best part of being on the road is you can “make a lot of money if you don’t have financial obligations — rent, car insurance — back home,” he said. “You’re able to pocket a lot more of your salary. I was able to save a lot of money and build a cushion, so when I went on a long stretch of unemployment, I still had something to sustain me.
“The other thing I like about being on the road is that I get to bring Broadway-caliber shows to Middle America at a fraction of what it costs in New York. That delights me.
“Also, when you’re in New York or at the Paper Mill in New Jersey, you’ve got a lot of eyes on you, a lot of industry scrutiny. But when you’re in a place like Vero Beach, you don’t have that kind of industry pressure. So you really get to practice your craft, and that’s what I like.”
Practicing that craft seemed inevitable from an early age. His father was Swiss, and Ben was born in Zurich. But after his parents divorced when he was 5, his mother, Binnie, moved to Cleveland, where her sister lived.
Shortly after they moved to the States, “my mom enrolled me in a theater day camp,” and the die was cast. “What resonated with me as sort of a displaced child was the sense of belonging and the sense of community,” Mr. Fankhauser said. “That really helped me figure out who I was at an early age, and it stayed with me. Because it felt so comfortable, it made me want to pursue a career in it. It made me feel I belong.”
His mom, a school psychologist, supported his ambitions. “I remember early in my career, when I would be struggling to find jobs, my mom would remind me I’m a survivor, that we come from a family of survivors, and that no matter the hardship, we will get through it together.”
He got more support from his cantor at Temple-Tifereth Israel, where he went to Sunday school, was a bar mitzvah, and was then confirmed. After that, he visited Israel with Birthright.
“My cantor tutored me for my bar mitzvah, he said. “When we read from the Torah we were chanting. But I didn’t understand the concept of chanting. I understood melody. And I understood song. Instead of chanting, I would want to sing these prayers as a melody. She was delighted, and I think she saw potential in me and encouraged me to do that.”
It seems his career was bashert and struggle-free. Was it? “I can see why you say that, because I had very early successes and I’ve been working very consistently ever since,” he said. “So I’m very blessed.
“If you’re an actor, you’ll have long stretches of unemployment and you have to love that part, too. But I never had to struggle with how I wanted to spend my life and my career. I felt it in my bones ever since I was a kid.”
“Mystic Pizza” runs at the Paper Mill from January 29 to February 23.
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