The Fantasticks

Synopsis

Tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play The Romancers (Les Romanesques) by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighbouring fathers who put up a wall between their houses to ensure that their children fall in love, because they know children always do what their parents forbid. After the children do fall in love, they discover their fathers' plot and each goes off and experience the world. Finally they return to each other and the love they had, having learned from the world to recognize their true feelings.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 10 June 2010

The Fantasticks, a long-running one-hit wonder for its authors Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, is the American Salad Days, which is probably why it’s never caught on here; we don’t mind extra dollops of charm, whimsy and melodic chirpiness as long as it’s our own.

I was once beguiled by the piece in the Open Air, Regent’s Park, but this new Japanese production, featuring eight resourceful British actors, two pianists and a box of props, is a bit of a struggle. The more they smile and caper, the more you feel like, well, stepping on their kumquats.

Thanks heavens for Edward Petherbridge and Clive Rowe. The first does some of his sweetest, silliest clowning as the old actor, ably assisted by Paul Hunter of Told by an Idiot. And the second is one of the two fathers – the other is David Burt – who create a false division between themselves to make sure their respective children fall in love.

Yes, folks,...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 26 June 2010:

After Paradise Found last Sunday we really needed to see a good musical, but instead we got The Fantasticks. The show begins and ends with Try to Remember, nicely sung by Hadley Fraser, but a show needs more than one decent song. In between is some asinine nonsense which purports to be inspired by Shakespeare but makes High School Musical look sophisticated. To make matters worse it's given an avant garde reimagining by Amon Miyamoto and ends up like something the Young Vic might churn out in one of their dafter moments. I seem to remember Lorna Want singing a very good song from this show at the WoS Awards, but here it was either unrecognisable or had vanished altogether. Miss Want is a very talented young actress with a lovely voice but you can see the desperation in her performance as she is aware of the damage this nonsense could do to her career. As for Fraser, after The Far Pavilions, The Pyrate Queen and now this, perhaps he needs to change his agent. ...

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