Customer Reviews

Try to Remember - The Fantasticks

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first review I have written for anything I have purchased from Amazon...and I have purchased many items!
This is a wonderful documentary capturing the magic of The Fastasticks from the creators' early collaborations through today. Learning the story of the original producer, who stayed through the end of the all the performances AND also played one of the fathers for 16 years was one of the many things I learned from viewing this film.
I have many films I've purchased and not even watched yet. This I watched within an hour of receiving it today.
Don't miss it whether you ever saw The Fantasticks at The Sullivan Street Playhouse or not....
I'm fortunate that Hurricane Gloria did not hit New York City in the way it was predicted because that was the weekend of my first wedding anniversary and I had tickets to see The Fantasticks at The Sullivan Street Playhouse. That was September 23, 1985 the first and only time I saw The Fantasticks. I will never forget it. Because of Jerry Orbach's death I discovered the existence of this DVD and am thrilled to have it. I never saw Jerry Orbach on Broadway or The Fantasticks, but I always think of him as El Gallo and a great stage actor.

Enjoy!

This documentary commemorating the closing of this musical after 42 years in NYC is only an hour long, so it may seem pricey unless you are a Fantasticks Fanatic. However, if you have a special fondness for the work, as I have, you must at least rent this. My relationship with the show began in 1962, when my college was one of the very first to get the rights to stage a production away from New York. Joining our drama department's cast of talented students and faculty members was an actor who had just finished playing the boy, Matt, at Sullivan Street. I think his name was Jack Black (no, not the current Jack Black.) I was the drama and film critic for my college paper at the time. The show just stunned me, and I have been a sucker for it ever since. I never got to Manhattan to see it in its original setting, but I have watched half-a-dozen productions in the past 40 years in four states. This DVD is a very nice tribute, featuring the people responsible for the music, the lyrics, the script and the staging. I was sorry when it ended, and wish they had expanded the film to at least two hours...any show lasting 42 years in the same theater deserves a good historical record.

This is a wonderful documentary on one of the best musicals ever written. Granted that after running for 42 years there are many more stories, but the DVD would have to have a length of 42 years.

Any DVD that shows even small portions of the original staging is to be enthusiastically welcomed.

To clear up one point in a previous review, it is clearly stated that Liza Minelli appeared in another production of the show NOT the New York version. That is why she is not interviewed.

Very nice documentary on this legendary show
Dont know what that other reviewer is talking about; Liza Minnelli was never in The Fantasticks - is he confusing the show with Flora the Red Menace

There was so much more to The Fantasticks, but this video didn't show it. The passing of the legendary Jerry Orbach leaves many of his inside stories untold. Liza Minnelli wasn't even interviewed. The story told by the composer and lyricist was interesting, but I still felt there was so much more to be said. It's on a par with the disappointing film version of The Fantasticks.