He began acting in New York City in 1939. Noto also attended shows in hopes of becoming a producer. He attended a rehearsal of a one-act show in development,
The Fantasticks, an allegorical "boy meets girl story" based on
Les Romanesques by
Edmond Rostand, and fell in love with the
Barnard College musical production. He then commissioned the authors to create a two-act version suitable to debut in
Greenwich Village in 1960. The opening of
The Fantasticks, on May 3, 1960, met with mixed reviews. Four years later, in
The New York Times, its creators,
Harvey Schmidt and
Tom Jones, recalled that Noto had kept the show running despite the criticism. The curtain was ceremonially taken down on January 13, 2002, after the musical had played 17,162 performances. It became the
"World's Longest Running Musical" in the
Guinness World Records. Noto was mentioned a second time in the
Guinness World Records, for achieving a world record of 6,348 performances as the longest-running actor in a single role in any production, having played Hucklebee (the Girl's father) for about 17 years in his own production of
The Fantasticks (this record has been broken since Noto retired from the role). The show won an off-Broadway
Obie Award, and a special
Tony Award in 1992. Noto co-wrote the musical theatre adaptation of the
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings book "
The Yearling", which he produced at the
Alvin Theatre on Broadway in 1965; the show played only three performances. During the time that he was writing the adaptation, he rented part of his Broadway office to
Mel Brooks, who was working on the film
The Producers (1967). The two became friendly.
Lee Meredith was discovered during that time because Noto saw her in a showcase production of
Carousel and knew Brooks would be impressed with the actress. ==Personal life==