The Fantasticks

I viewed a kinescope of this TV special in the Museum of TV & Radio. This production of 'The Fantasticks' is a Hallmark special, so -- like all of that breed -- it's impeccably well-done family viewing, and squeaky-clean. One problem with 'The Fantasticks' (adapted from an Edmond Rostand play) is that the fathers of the young lovers conspire with another man to have one father's daughter raped. Even though the libretto takes care to establish that the word "rape" is being used in its more obscure sense of abduction rather than non-consensual sex ... still, when modern viewers hear the word "rape", they're going to interpret it in the sexual way. Appropriately, this production revises and downplays that difficult part of the plot.

This production's staging is note-perfect: on a spacious indoor set that convincingly depicts a rural outdoor setting in autumn. (As the beautiful opening song notes, this is September.) I was surprised by the elimination here of the top-hatted character known in the stage play as the Mute, somewhat equivalent to the Property Man in Chinese drama. Two other minor roles have been incorporated into the roles of the fathers, Hucklebee and Bellomy. A press release issued at the time this special was broadcast on American TV stated that this was "to make the fathers' roles fatter and funnier".

And, oh, those fathers! The boy's father Hucklebee is played by the great Bert Lahr, whilst the girl's father (a slightly more difficult role) is tackled by the great Stanley Holloway. Lahr and Holloway had never worked together before, yet here they convince us that they've been cronies for years (despite their wildly diverse accents). Their harmonising on the comic duet "Never Say 'No'" is hilarious. Also, Ricardo Montalban is splendid and quietly dignified as El Gallo, the pimp of the rape that's not a rape.

As for the young lovers ... as the boy, John Davidson is, well, squeaky-clean. I was much more interested in seeing the performance of Susan Watson as the girl. It's amazing that Susan Watson is today so obscure. In the early 1960s, Watson was a vitally important Broadway performer: the bridge between Barbara Cook (before her) and Bernadette Peters (after her). Watson was the generic ingenue, starring in several Broadway musicals: among others, she played the Ann-Margret role in the stage version of 'Bye Bye Birdie'. Seeing her vivacious performance here, I'm surprised that she never translated her stage stardom into screen stardom. I'll rate this excellent chamber musical 9 out of 10.

This abridged version of "The Fantastics" has strong and weak aspects, but worth watching. I especially enjoyed Susan Watson as the "girl"; she acted and sung the part perfectly (the other Imdb reviewer is crazy to say she sings poorly !). John Davidson sung beatifully, though it was a bit hard to buy him as an innocent "boy"; a bit too much show business personna. Watson and Davidson were both beautiful to look at, if that's of consequence.

Montalban was excellent casting for El Galo. As an actor; he found effective, sometimes unusual ways to act the poetic text. His singing was passable, though inferior to those who've usually played the part.

Fun to see Lahr and Holloway ham it up as the fathers, though they seemed under rehearsed.

Negatives: Using a full orchestra, playing cliche'd, mushy orchestrations, was a mistake which hindered the vocals. All the charming lightness of the original instrumental accompaniment was gone.

A lot of material was cut out of this one hour version of the play. Some I didn't miss, but some I did. It seemed to me that some of the text was new, not necessarily bad, but needless revision to the original.

Sadly, the long-running Off-Broadway stage musical wasn't filmed with its original stars. This cut-down 1964 show for NBC gets it all wrong. The music is too loud and too orchestral. The two fathers' roles have been beefed up at the expense of the lovers' roles. The sets are cheesy. The singing is bad.

First off, Ricardo Montalban as El Gallo can't really sing. Neither can the fathers, as portrayed by Bert Lahr and Stanley Holloway. That they can't sing doesn't matter so much since they are characters parts, but there's no harmonizing and no chemistry. John Davidson as Matt is fine, but Susan Watson as Luisa is just plain awful and her high notes are weak and often sour. It doesn't help that the music drowns out the singers on several occasions.

Listen to the 1960 soundtrack from the original show if you want to really hear the terrific score by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (no not THAT Tom Jones). The original production utilized a piano, harp, and xylophone. This TV production's full orchestra is too big and loud.

Jerry Orbach was the original Gallo and he had a good singing voice. Likewise Kenneth Nelson as Matt. Their numbers together featured two strong voices and nice harmonizing. Rita Gardner as Luisa had a great soprano voice and held her own with the men as well as being able to hold those high notes.

Major victim here is the elimination of "It Depends on What You Pay," in which Gallo sells the fathers on the idea of a rape (abduction) so that the boy can save the girl. They mutter a few lines in place of the song. "Rape Ballet" has already (this is 1964) been renamed "Abduction Ballet" and played confusingly. Also, the "Round and Round" number is cut in half and badly filmed in an artsy out-of-focus way.

As bad as this TV production is, the 2008 feature film was even worse. If you want to experience "Try to Remember," "Soon It's Gonna Rain," and "They Were You," by the CD of the original 1960 show.

Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, and Jerry Orbach stand supreme in this one-of-a-kind musical.

The singing and dancing are just ok, at best, but I didn't expect otherwise. What surprised me was that the identities of the Henry and Mortimer actors are lost to history. Their names aren't listed ANYWHERE on the Internet that I can find. Not in the end credits, not on Wikipedia, not on IMDB...nowhere. Odd. In any event, this version is great to watch simply because it's another version of TF. Those of us enamored (or obsessed) with the show will still hold it dear. It was never going to win any awards, but it's still there, regardless. Oh, and there's no Mute. Kinda takes something away from it, but I understand that choice.

This television version of the longest-running musical play in history has a lot to recommend it, and several things that are downright annoying. Among the best parts are the cast: Ricardo Montalban plays a marvelous version of El Gallo -- although it would have been nice if they had gotten Jerry Ohrbach to reprise the role he took at the premiere of its 42-year Sullivan Street Playhouse run. Stanley Holloway and Bert Lahr play the fathers, and John Davidson and Susan Watson the young lovers -- and the people who complain that Miss Watson can't sing are screwy. For ten or fifteen years, if you opened a musical comedy on Broadway, you wanted her for the ingenue.

That said, and even agreeing that for a one-hour presentation, something must be cut, I really wish they hadn't cut "It Depends on What You Pay" or "This Plum Is Too Ripe." I understand the reason for the first one, since this was broadcast in Prime Time as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame; but these two songs appeal to my cynical sense of humor. Still, what survives is very well done. And I can always hear these two fine songs on my copy of the original cast album.