'THE FANTASTICKS': JUST TRY TO REMEMBER THIS FILM IN NOVEMBER.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

It seems like the film version of the long-running ofroadway hit ``The Fantasticks'' has been around almost as long as the play. Director Michael Ritchie (``Fletch,'' ``Smile'') finished the movie five years ago, but MGM studio executives have sat on it since, apparently unable to figure out how to market a bittersweet, sentimental musical to modern moviegoers. You'd think a show that ranks as America's longest-running theatrical production would have a built-in audience and the potential to at least become a solid art-house hit. We'll never know.

After being significantly recut and shortened by MGM board member Francis Ford Coppola, ``The Fantasticks'' arrives today in four cities (and one theater in Los Angeles) before being relegated to video bins in January. And while the movie ultimately fails to convey the magical melancholy and rich imagination that has made the show an ofroadway staple for 40 years, it should please die-hards who want to ``try to remember the kind of September'' one more time.

But then die-hards are probably pretty skeptical about the movie to begin with. Much of the charm of ``The Fantasticks'' comes from its simplicity. The show is traditionally performed with a nine-actor cast and a four-piece orchestra on a single set consisting of a platform, curtain and prop box. These bare necessities allow the audience to key into the words and music of lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt and to use their imaginations. It's as much a celebration of the theater as it is an ode to lost innocence.

Filming in the wide expanses of Arizona using the wide-screen Panavision format, Ritchie tries to transfer the magical feeling to film. But while cinematographer Fred Murphy's beautiful images are certainly arresting, the scenery tends to overwhelm the music and the mood. The bigger orchestrations don't help in that regard, either.

For the uninitiated, ``The Fantasticks'' tells the love story of next- door neighbors Luisa (Jean Louisa Kelly) and Matt (Joe McIntyre), two teen-agers mad about each other, apparently against the wishes of their respective widower fathers. But, with a nod to Shakespeare, it turns out the fathers' feud is entirely manufactured, a model of reverse psychology outlined in the song ``Never Say No.''

The fathers (played by Joel Grey and Barnard Hughes) must find a way to end the feud without arousing their children's suspicions. For help, they turn to a traveling magician, El Gallo (British stage actor Jonathon Morris, quite good), whose mysterious traveling carnival has pulled into town. Among El Gallo's advertised specialties is the ending of family feuds, but the fathers, and the young lovers, soon find out that the magician offers some hard and painful life lessons as well.

The musical's wistful innocence seems rather quaint in this age of vulgarity and cynicism. Here, when the lovers kiss, it is on the hand, wrist or eyelids. And the message about innocence being something not missed until it's lost has a timeless appeal that's relevant to the art of movie musicals, too. Sadly, ``The Fantasticks'' won't be the movie that restores the musical's relevance to moviegoers.

``THE FANTASTICKS''

(Rated PG: some bawdy humor.)

The stars: Joel Grey, Barnard Hughes, Jean Louisa Kelly, Joe McIntyre, Jonathon Morris. Behind the scenes: Directed by Michael Ritchie. Screenplay by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, based on the play by Jones and Schmidt. Released by United Artists. Running time: One hour, 26 minutes. Playing: AMC Century 14 in Century City. Our rating: Two and one half stars

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Jean Louisa Kelly and Joe McIntyre share a dance in the movie version of the musical ``The Fantasticks.''