The Fantasticks is one of my favorite musical shows ever, and i was thrilled to know that a film version of it is available. Unfortunately, the best thing about the film is the casting of Joe McIntyre as Matt; he is thoroughly adorable and sings his part beautifully. The best-executed number in the whole show is "I Can See It", his duet with the Narrator/El Gallo. Other excellent numbers include "Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "This Plum Is Too Ripe". The part of Luisa played by Jean Louisa Kelly was all right. While Joel Grey looks the part of the girl's father Bellomy, his singing is not as good as one would expect, so his witty duets with the other father Hucklebee, played by Brad Sullivan, came off a little flat. But the biggest disappointments to me are the casting of a colorless Jonathan Morris in the important part of El Gallo aka The Narrator, and the replacement of the Rape song with a number that's less clever, though I suppose still serviceable. If you've never seen a decent version of this show on stage, you will probably not know what you really missed anyway.
Review of The Fantasticks
