Three was not the charm when I returned for a third visit to New York's only 36-year-old current musical, The Fantasticks, still ensconced in the Sullivan Street Playhouse, still packing in crowds of young teens and seniors with long memories. It's about a boy and a girl, of course, and the two fathers who keep them apart with the express interest of getting them together. Papas Hucklebee and Bellomy hire a dashing bandito to aid their scheme, which works brilliantly -- except "happily ever after" isn't always what it seems. Soon the boy and girl are bored with each other and go off to seek adventure, from which they return sadder and wiser. I've been going through a real see-saw on this show. My first encounter, back when I was in college, left me resolutely unimpressed, though the surprisingly deep message of the second act did resonate. A re-visit two years ago must have caught me in a soppily nostalgic mood because I warmed greatly to the musical, beguiled by Harvey Schmidt's sweeter melodies ("They Were You," "Try To Remember") arranged ever so delicately for harp and piano, and reveling in the serene comic presence of Gordon G. Jones as father Hucklebee. Jones is still working his magic in the show, and the best melodies still hit your spine first and then rise to your ears. And the latest young couple, Darren Romeo and Christine Long, have much to recommend them, notably Ms. Long's impressive singing and spunkier than usual Luisa. After a wooden "Try To Remember," John Savarese thaws into a handsome and suave El Gallo, while William Tost, whose shtick is becoming somewhat rote, remains a proficient Bellomy. The comic relief, alas, has gone from just tolerable to unendurable, with Bryan Hull's Old Actor dragging out every sonorously-voiced line of dialogue and labored physical stunt. Though appealingly diminutive, Paul Blankenship (as the Actor's mute assistant) isn't all that funny either, but at least he doesn't say anything. Perhaps I'll return to The Fantasticks in a couple of years and find myself responding once more to the nostalgia, the cute story. This time, however, the show was nothing I'll try to remember. [Note: My above, March 1996 review aside, The Fantasticks must be doing something right; the show celebrated its 16,000th performance -- and counting -- in mid-December `98.]
