Some Weak Links in ‘Fantasticks’

When “The Fantasticks” opened off-Broadway in 1960, no one guessed that this Tom Jones / Harvey Schmidt musical would still be running there nearly 40 years later. Nor does the Actors Co-op revival at the Crossley Theatre shed much light on how this happened.

When Kelley Hinman scrapes through the first few bars of “Try to Remember,” you do remember--that many people have sung this tune much better.

Two fathers plot to have their children wed by pretending to feud. Hucklebee (Tim Farmer) arranges to have his son Matt (Rick Marcus) rescue Bellomy’s (Gus Corrado) daughter Luisa (Dorothy Elias-Fahn) from the man, El Gallo (Hinman), they hire to abduct her.

Hinman has the rapscallion charm necessary for the other aspects of his role, but he, Marcus, Farmer and Corrado are all simply tune-carriers. The only real singer is Elias-Fahn, who almost sounds out of place.

Farmer and Corrado mug and grimace. Marcus and Elias-Fahn try to be sappily sweet and later, glumly disillusioned. Director Mark Henderson could tighten the pacing, particularly as Chris Salmon’s choreography is uninspired. Yet Henderson’s light touch almost works, even when the cast blithely tosses about the word “rape.”

We understand it’s all in fun, yet it’d be more fun to hear some real singing to support such a slender premise.

* “The Fantasticks,” Crossley Theatre, First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1760 N. Gower St. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 19. $18-$22. (323) 462-8460. Running time: 2 hours.