Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s iconic musical The Fantasticks ran a total of 21,522 performances beginning in May 1960. The film version, released in 2000 after a five-year delay, ran, well, about a week in a smattering of theaters around the country, so if you don’t recall even hearing about it, you are not alone.

As you know, sharing curiosities is one of our specialties at The Musical Theater Project, and among movie musicals, this one ranks near the top. The film sharply divided critics: most loathed it, though some loved it. I’m unapologetically in the latter camp —but I can’t wait to see how you vote.

Many critics wondered why the film was made in the first place: Why take a tiny, iconoclastic Off Broadway show and blow it up for the big screen literally and/or figuratively? Michael Ritche, a notable director of the era, was obsessed with making the film, and Jones & Schmidt re-conceived it and even wrote the screenplay. Although United Artists mercilessly cut 20 minutes from the finished movie, what remains is very much worth your attention.

And here’s a bonus: with composer Schmidt’s blessing, his score, originally performed by just piano and harp, was put in the hands of the great orchestrator Jonathan (Stephen Sondheim) Tunick, whose symphonic arrangements help us appreciate how masterful Schmidt’s work is in ear-opening new ways.