The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical comedy with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It is about two neighboring fathers who trick their children into falling in love by pretending to feud.

El Gallo

• In short, she was growing pretty.
  And the shock so stunned and thrilled her
  That she became
  Almost immediately
  Incurably insane.
• I know you prefer 'ab-duc-tion', but the proper word is 'rape'. It's short and businesslike.
  • [NOTE: This line is sometimes edited to remove references to the word "rape"]
• A group of living statues.
  What do they call it? A tableau
  
  Hmm.
  I wonder if they can hold it.
  They'll try to, I suppose.
  And yet it won't be easy
  To hold such a pretty pose.
• There is a curious paradox
  That no one can explain.
  Who understands the secret
  Of the reaping of the grain?
  Who understands why Spring is born
  Out of Winter's laboring pain?
  Or why we all must die a bit
  Before we grow again.

Luisa

• Please, God, please -
  Don't let me be normal!
• I'm going to take my clothes off and go swimming in a stream!
• When the dance was done,
  When I went my way,
  When I tried to find rainbows far away,
  All the lovely lights seemed to fade
  From view:
  They were you.

Matt

• I'm grown-up, stable,
  Willing to conform.
  I'm beyond such foolish notions.
  And yet—in spite of my knowledge—
  There is this girl.

Hucklebee

• I was once in the navy. That's where I learned Horticulture.
• Son, you're an ass.

Henry

• Watch this.
  "Friends, Romans, Countrymen...
  Screw your courage to the sticking place!
  And be not sick and pale with grief
  That thou, her handmaidens,
  Should be far more fair
  Than she...
  Is..."

Dialogue

Luisa: Listen! I have had a vision!

Matt: Of disaster?

Luisa: No. Of azaleas.

---

Luisa: Is it fun to be a bandit?

El Gallo: It has its moments.

Luisa: I think it must be fun. Tell me, do you ride on a great white horse?

El Gallo: I used to.

Luisa: But no longer?

El Gallo: I developed a saddle rash. Very painful.

Luisa: How unglamorous. I've never heard of a hero who had a saddle rash.

El Gallo: Oh, it happens. Occupational hazard.

---

Mortimer: Psst. Psst. 'Enry, Where do you want me?

Henry: Off left. Off left. Indians are always off left.

Mortimer: Enry?

Henry: What?

Mortimer: Wot's me cue?

Henry: I'll tell you when its time.

Try to remember the kind of September When life was slow and oh, so mellow ...
When grass was green and grain was yellow

Try to Remember

Try to Remember is the first song performed in the show. It was written by Tom Jones while Harvey Schmidt composed the music. It scored the Billboard Hot 100 popular music chart three times during 1965, with versions by Ed Ames, Roger Williams and Barry McGuire.

Lyrics

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow ...
When grass was green and grain was yellow...
When you were a tender and callow fellow ...
And if you remember Then follow...
Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow ...
When life was so tender
That dreams were kept beside your pillow ...
When... love was an ember about to billow...
Deep in December it's nice to remember
Without the hurt the heart is hollow

• Try to Remember, The Brothers Four (youtube)
• Try To Remember, Harry Belafonte (youtube)
• Wikipedia article Try to Remember