The Fantasticks is a 1960
musical with music by
Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by
Tom Jones. It was produced by
Lore Noto. It tells an
allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" ("Les Romanesques") by
Edmond Rostand, It resembled a traveling players' wagon, like a pageant wagon. As for a curtain, he hung different small false curtains across the platform at various times during the play. He also made a sun/moon out of cardboard. One side was painted bright yellow (the sun) and the other was black with a crescent of white (the moon). The sun/moon was hung from a nail in one of the poles and is referred to in the
libretto. The orchestra consists of a piano and sometimes also a harp, with the harpist also sometimes playing some percussion instruments.
The production closed on January 13, 2002 after a record-shattering 17,162 performances. It is the world's longest-running musical and the longest-running uninterrupted show of any kind in the United States.
Washington DC Production
The musical was presented by the
Arena Stage in Washington DC from November 20, 2009 to January 10, 2010, at the
Lincoln Theatre. The well-received production replaced the conventional "mysterious bandit" interpretation of El Gallo with a kindly carnival magician character.
Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks wrote, "they have been reconditioned to conceal the telltale signs of age and yield a diversion that feels fresh and alive again". The production received mostly poor reviews. Critic
Michael Billington, for example, wrote, "the time for this kind of faux-naïf, sub Commedia dell'Arte diversion has passed".
Famous actors, other than those listed above, who have performed in productions of the show include David Canary, Robert Goulet, Richard Chamberlain, John Carradine and Ed Ames.
Television and film
An abbreviated version of the show was broadcast by the
Hallmark Hall of Fame on October 18, 1964. The cast included
John Davidson,
Stanley Holloway,
Bert Lahr,
Ricardo Montalban and
Susan Watson, who had appeared in the original Barnard College production.
A feature film directed by Michael Ritchie was completed in 1995 but not released until 2000. It starred Joel Grey, Brad Sullivan, Jean Louisa Kelly, Barnard Hughes, Jonathon Morris and Joey McIntyre.
Plot
;Act I
Two houses are separated by a wall in an unspecified American town
(Overture).
The mysterious El Gallo then sings about love and September (Try to Remember). He then begins to explain the plot of the play. Matt and Luisa live next door, and fall in love. However, their fathers are feuding and order them not to speak. Luisa then stands and sings about the things she wants to do in her life (Much More). Matt then rises and delivers a speech about Luisa and how he is in love with her. He then discovers that Luisa is on the other side of the wall, he proceeds to sing about his love to her in a very exaggerated, superficial way (Metaphor). Matt and Luisa end the song on either side of the wall and speak of Luisa's vision of Matt saving her from kidnapping. Matt's father then appears, and speaks of his life and idea of life. He sees Matt and informs him of his new wife. He then orders Matt inside and follows. Luisa's Father then enters and speaks of his life and what his idea of life is. He then orders Luisa inside. He then calls to Hucklebee, and the audience learns that they are actually best friends, whose feud is only a ruse designed—on the theory that kids always pursue whatever is forbidden them—to bring their children together romantically. They then proceed to sing about how to control children, by saying no (Never Say No). Huck tells Bell of his plan to end the feud, by having Luisa "kidnapped" by a professional and then being saved by Matt.
The hired professional, El Gallo (also the narrator, and "Puppet Master" of the show), appears on cue to enumerate, in song ((It Depends on What You Pay)), all the different varieties of "rape" —in the archaic sense of an abduction or kidnapping—he can simulate. Deciding to spare no expense for their beloved children, the Fathers agree to a "first class" rape. After the fathers leave the stage, Henry and Mortimer appear to help with the fake kidnapping. Henry and Mortimer are old actors who are much past their prime, and are frequently confused as to what is going on.
Following that, Matt and Luisa walk on stage, and speak and sing of their love, and their dreamed life (Soon It's Gonna Rain). After the conclusion of the song, the fake kidnapping occurs (Rape Ballet); Matt easily "defeats" Henry, Mortimer and El Gallo; and the feud is ended, with the children and the fathers joined in a picturesque final tableau (Happy Ending). El Gallo then rises to comments on the Tableau, wondering how long the characters will be able to maintain their elaborately joyful poses. He and the Mute exit.
;Act II
As predicted by El Gallo, the second act opens with the children and fathers still posed as before, but visibly shaky and exhausted from the effort. El Gallo enters, observing that what was seemed romantic by moonlight may lose its charm when exposed to the harsh light of day. He changes the moon to the sun, and exits.
The Fathers and Children immediately begin to complain about one another, singing about all the flaws which have become glaringly visible by daylight (This Plum is too Ripe). The children try to "recreate the moonlight" by acting falsely romantic, which drives the fathers to distraction. In a fit of pique, Hucklebee tells them that their kidnapping was a fake, and that the fathers were really friends all along. Matt and Luisa are mortified, and the fathers' mutual recrimination quickly escalates into a real feud; they storm off to their respective houses. El Gallo then enters, and Matt, in a desperate attempt to regain his honor and Luisa's love, challenges him to a duel. El Gallo disarms Matt easily and then leaves the stage. Matt and Luisa then argue fiercely, saying what they really think of each other. El Gallo then re-enters and tells the audience that Matt must leave to experience the world.
Matt then sings with El Gallo about his vision of the world, while El Gallo sings of what it really is to the audience (I Can See It). Henry and Mortimer then appear and lead Matt off into the real world.
A month then passes, and the Fathers have rebuilt the wall. They proceed to resolve the conflict and speak of their children; Luisa is like a statue and does nothing but sit around; Matt still hasn't returned. They then sing about the risks of children (Plant a Radish). After they exit, Luisa sings a short reprise of "Much More" and discovers that El Gallo is watching. She then asks him to take her to the world, and run away with her. She believes that it is romantic, and he agrees to and they then sing of their future life, while Matt is being beaten by Henry and Mortimer in the Background, which is a metaphor for the world hurting him. This entire sequence has a severely dark underscore to it (Round and Round).
After the conclusion of the song, El Gallo tells Luisa to go pack her things, but asks for her treasured necklace, a relic of her dead mother, as a pledge that she will come. Matt begins to appear singing a reprise of "I Can See It" except while El Gallo tells Luisa of the world's grandness, he sings about what the world is really like to the audience. After Luisa leaves to go pack her things, El Gallo begins to leave, Matt makes a pitiful attempt to stop him from leaving and hurting Luisa, but El Gallo easily overpowers him, and knocks him unconscious. Luisa then returns to the stage and realizes that El Gallo has left her, and sits down in tears. El Gallo then appears behind the central action, and recites a poem about how he had to hurt Matt and Luisa to make them realize what love is, and how he hurt himself in the process. Matt then rises and tries to comfort Luisa, and he tells her what the world is really like, and the two realize that everything they wanted was each other (They Were You). Matt and Luisa then sing a reprise of Metaphor, with a deeper understanding of life.
The Fathers then return and are about to tear down the wall, when El Gallo reminds them that the Wall must stay (Try to Remember (Reprise)).
Characters
El Gallo (the Narrator/Bandit)
Matt (the Boy)
Luisa (the Girl)
Hucklebee (the Boy's father)
Bellomy (the Girl's father)
Henry (The Old Actor)
Mortimer (the man who dies - an actor, pretending to be an American Indian)
The Mute (who at times acts the part of the Wall)
Musical numbers
;Act I
Overture
Try to Remember - El Gallo, Luisa, Matt, Hucklebee, Bellomy
Much More - Luisa
Metaphor - Matt, Luisa
Never Say No - Hucklebee, Bellomy
It Depends On What You Pay - El Gallo, Hucklebee, Bellomy
*alternately: Abductions - El Gallo, Hucklebee, Bellomy
Soon It's Gonna Rain - Matt, Luisa
Rape Ballet (changed to Abduction Ballet) - Company
Happy Ending - Company
;Act II
This Plum Is Too Ripe - Matt, Luisa, Hucklebee, Bellomy
I Can See It - Matt, El Gallo
Plant A Radish - Hucklebee, Bellomy
Round And Round - El Gallo, Luisa, Company
They Were You - Matt, Luisa
Try to Remember - El Gallo
Controversy
Although the musical was a success,
The Fantasticks' book became somewhat controversial due to its repeated use of the word "
rape." In the original production, when El Gallo offers to stage the phony kidnapping of Luisa, he refers to the proposed event as a "rape", although he makes it clear that he uses the word only in its traditional literary sense (
Latin "rapere") of "abduction", explaining that many classical works, including
Alexander Pope's
The Rape of the Lock, use the word in this sense. (See
raptio and
bride kidnapping.) In his song "It Depends on What You Pay" he describes different kidnapping scenarios—some comic or outlandish—that he classifies as the "
Venetian rape", the "
Gothic rape", the "Drunken rape", etc. However, as the public issues of rape and
sexual assault became more of a delicate subject during the play's long run, some people in the audience became puzzled by the use of the word.
To deal with changing audience perceptions, the book is sometimes edited to replace the word "rape" with alternatives such as "abduction" or the similar-sounding "raid." In addition, in 1990, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, the authors, wrote an optional replacement piece called "Abductions", which uses the music of the "Rape Ballet" (although this song did not replace "It Depends on What You Pay" at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, where, with the edits made in the book, audiences did not seem to have much difficulty in accepting the song). MTI (Music Theater International), which licenses the show, has made "Abductions" available, both music and lyrics, as an alternate choice in the event of someone being offended by the word "rape".
Notes
References
Farber, Donald C. and Viagas, Robert. The Amazing Story of 'The Fantasticks': America's Longest-Running Play, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005, ISBN 0-87910-313-2
Schmidt, Harvey. Fantasticks, Hal Leonard Corporation, 1992, ISBN 1-55783-141-6
External links
Official website of the original production of The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks at the Guide to Musical Theatre
"The Fantastick Career of Jones & Schmidt" by Robert Viagas, SHOWmusic, Fall 1996, pages 12–18, 69-70
MTI site for The Fantasticks
Official website of the 2006 off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks
Official Fantasticks Live Blog
Website for the Dutch (Netherlands) 2008 version of the Fantasticks
Official website of the London production of The Fantasticks
2002 New York Times article
Category:1960 musicals
Category:Off-Broadway
Category:Off-Broadway musicals
Category:Musicals based on plays
Category:Adaptations of works by Edmond Rostand
![Jerry Orbach - Try to Remember [From the Fantasticks] (1962)](http://web.archive.org./web/20110327111646im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ycPoxZ1NPBY/0.jpg "Jerry Orbach - Try to Remember [From the Fantasticks] (1962)")
![This Plum Is Too Ripe [The Fantasticks, Part 9 of 15]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110327111646im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6wtJnCUP8uM/0.jpg "This Plum Is Too Ripe [The Fantasticks, Part 9 of 15]")
