The Fantasticks [Blu-ray]

Director: Michael Ritchie Michael Ritchie

Overview

The longest-running show in the history of the American theater (it opened at an off-Broadway theater in the spring of 1960, where it remained until the production finally closed in early 2002) finally arrives onscreen. Hucklebee (Brad Sullivan) and Bellamy (Joel Grey) are a pair of small town fathers who are scheming to bring their children Matt (Joseph McIntyre) and Luisa (Jean Louisa Kelly) together in a romance. As a carnival arrives to bring some excitement to the sleepy village, the fathers persuade a mysterious interloper named El Gallo (Jonathan Morris) to stage a mock abduction of Luisa, which will hopefully prompt Matt to come to her rescue. However, while El Gallo's plan succeeds, he also awakens his innocent charges to the darker and more disappointing side of love. The Fantasticks was shot and edited in 1995, but beyond a few preview screenings, it went unreleased until the fall of 2000. The film marked the dramatic debut of former New Kids on the Block vocalist Joseph McIntyre, and features Teller (of the magic/performance art duo Penn & Teller) in a rare speaking role.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/25/2023
UPC:	0850035985496
Original Release:	1995
Rating:	PG
Source:	Sandpiper Pictures
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	39,557

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joel Grey	Bellomy
Barnard Hughes	Henry
Joseph McIntyre	Matt
Jonathon Morris	El Gallo
Brad Sullivan	Hucklebee
Arturo Gil	Bavarian Baby
Joe Anthony Cox	His Assistant,Assistant
Victoria Stevens	Jo Jo,Roustabout
Trayne Thomas	Tattooed
Dyrk Ashton	Roustabout
Gregory Amato	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Lee Bell	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Celia Fushille-Burke	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Marjorie Grundvig	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Tiffany Heft	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Jennifer Jaffe	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Mark Anthony Lopez	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Julian Montaner	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Rika Onizuka	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Teller	Mortimer
Joseph Woelfel	Smuin Ballet/SF Dancer
Jean Louisa Kelly	Luisa
Harvey Schmidt	Composer

Technical Credits

Harvey Schmidt

Michael Ritchie	Director,Producer
Linne Radmin	Producer
Rick Pagano	Casting
Art Schaefer	Executive Producer
Chuck Waters	Stunts
Cliff Wenger	Special Effects
Harvey Schmidt	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Making a theatrical film out of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks, the longest running play (and musical) in American history, seems like an improbable project. Devised for an off-Broadway production with a small cast, on a very small stage, The Fantasticks defies the conventions of cinema. The play, for 40 years a favorite of student and semi-professional companies, is something of a relic of the pre-1960s era that spawned it -- a teenaged girl and boy living in neighboring farm houses in some indeterminate time in the past are attracted to each other with help from their fathers who, in a triumph of reverse psychology, pretend to feud with each other in order to encourage the pair. Now it is time to end the feud, but how? Stage a kidnapping with help from a carnival entertainer and let the boy rescue the girl, thus providing a basis for the end of the feud. All goes well and their love is declared, and the second act deals with the couple's disillusionment and unhappiness with each other -- about losing innocence and falling out of love, and discovering a deeper, more enduring and mature form of love in the process. Director Michael Ritchie has accomplished a nimble conjuring trick, helped by a delightful cast. He has elicited performances from Jean Louisa Kelly and Joe McIntyre (formerly a member of New Kids on the Block) of extraordinary charm and vibrancy, while Joel Gray and Brad Sullivan, as the fathers, make a delightful comic double act as charming curmudgeons with their children's best interests at heart. And Jonathon Morris as El Gallo -- a role that Jerry Orbach originated -- is the sparkplug of the piece, a wry-witted rogue who combines Errol Flynn-style bravado with charming, earthy seediness, and dominates every shot in which he appears. Music director Jonathan Tunick has expanded the score (including the hits "Try to Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain") to fit the needs of the big screen and the expansive setting of Arizona's San Rafael Valley without losing sight of the simplicity of the original work.