YMMV / The Fantasticks

• Cargo Ship: In some productions the wall is performed by a woman, sometimes during the love songs between Matt and Luisa the wall might stare sadly at Matt with jealousy.
• Funny Moments:
  • When Henry is trying to prove his credentials as an actor to El Gallo, he asks him to throw a William Shakespeare quote at him as a prompt. El Gallo gives him "Friends, Romans, countrymen" from Julius Caesar... and Henry stalls for a moment while consulting Mortimer, then the speech he gives throws several Shakespeare tragedies into a blender and hits "Puree". He even adds extra words to make the quote fit his (incorrect) idea of iambic pentameter.
    Henry: Friends, Romans, countrymen... screw your courage to the sticking place! And be not sick and pale with grief... that thou... her... handmaiden... should be far more fair... [pause] than she... [very long pause] is.
  • After the staged "abduction", the actors are about to leave, and El Gallo gives Henry another prompt. He gets the quote right this time, but there's still a technical problem:
    El Gallo: "Good night, sweet prince..."
    Henry: "And flights of angels..." [a spotlight shines on El Gallo, leaving Henry in the dark] THAT'S MY LIGHT! [the spotlight shifts to Henry]
• Harsher in Hindsight: The song "Try to Remember" after 9/11. It was actually sung at many memorial events, including at Ground Zero in December of 2001, just three months after the attacks.
  • Wall Street Journal columnist Amy Gamermann recalled attending a performance a mere three days after the attacks. By the end of the song, she was in tears. So was one of the actors.
  • The same article draws parallels between the opening scene where the Mute swings from a pole and throws paper squares into the air to the bits of paper that filled the sky around Ground Zero all day after the Twin Towers fell.
• Memetic Mutation: For a time, it was common for audiences to call for Mortimer to "Die again!" at some performances.
• Nightmare Fuel: The mask El Gallo gives to Luisa in "Round and Round" makes her see Matt's pain as entertainment. By the end of the song, El Gallo is forcing the mask to her face.
• Tear Jerker: "Try to Remember". Listen for yourself, set to several images of Orbach throughout his career.
  • Also "They Were You."
• Values Dissonance: Even within the context of the story, Luisa's father is especially put off at El Gallo's insistence of using the word "rape" in place of the less vulgar "abduction." More recent productions side with the father and, at the very least, limit El Gallo's use of the word in favor of "abduction."