tambennett

Does anyone have an opinion about this off Broadway Show?
Thanks so much!

cmcfong

I have not seen it recently, so I cannot comment on the current production. However I have seen it many times and loved it every single one of them. Beautiful songs, lovely story. Enjoy.

nytraveler

Well - it's been running for about 40 years - so it must be OK. (Jerry Orbach of Law & Order fame - who died a couple of years ago in his late 60's played the young hero when it opened.)

A very simple tale with pleasant music - and a lot of kid's first theater experience.

(I saw it first when I was about 10 - and later, again went with a bunch of friends from college. Haven't seen it since.)

What was the question?

HowardR

A couple corrections on nytraveler's post:
1. The current production has not been running for 40 years. It's a revival. The original closed in January 2002.
2. While Jerry Orbach was in the original cast, he did not play the young hero, but rather El Gallo, who was the narrator.

NeoPatrick

I saw a fairly recent performance (in the last two years, anyway) of this musical I've seen maybe 25 productions of. The version at the Snapple Theatre was very good. A couple of recent reviews of the current cast in a theatre board I spend time on were raves. Go.

cigalechanta

I remember years ago a women's group were protesting because of the rape song.
My first date with my husband was when he invited me to see this show.

cheribob

This was the first play my parents took me to see (tip of my hat to nytraveler).

I enjoyed it. Just recently I took DH to see it. He enjoyed it also. He took away a much deeper meaning from it than I did when I was 12 years old.

Just in case you are concerned by Cigalechanta's rape reference. It is alluded to in a very allegorical way. It went right over my head when I was young. It was only when I saw it as an adult that I understood what had happened. So don't be concerned if you are thinking about taking children to see it.

NeoPatrick

I remember those idiotic protests about the song about rape, but clearly those protesting about it didn't have a clue. It is even explained clearly that rape is simply the proper word for abduction because it's "short and businesslike" and never was there even a hint that this rape has anything to do with having sex -- yet alone rape in the sense we know it today.

I even remember some high schools doing the show and changing the word rape to "take" and keeping the entire song the same otherwise. It's amazing how some minds work.

NeoPatrick

By the way, I sure hope those protesters kept their innocent kids away from art museums such as The Louvre. God forbid they should see anything so pornographic as "The Rape of the Sabine Women" or "The Rape of Europa".

gjkayak

The Fantastiks was great when I saw it with Jerry Orbach starring as El Gallo in 1961, when I took my new bride to see it in 1965, and when we returned with our children years later. It is a classic -- I don't know if it is still in the Sullivan Street Theater, but that tiny venue, a classic in its own right, added to the fun.

No sex, and the only violence is a brief reference to spreading jam on someone's cat. The songs will stay with you for years.

AJPeabody

It's a Law of the Theatre:

Everyone must see The Fanyasticks at least once.

Do it!

AJPeabody

It's a Law of the Theatre:

Everyone must see The Fantasticks at least once.

Do it!

cigalechanta

AND- try to remember. and follow, follow, follow

NeoPatrick

As a sidenote, Nick Spangler who is the current Matt (the Boy) in the Fantasticks just won the million dollar prize with his sister on the Amazing Race tonight.