Did you know? The Patriot Post is funded 100% by its readers. Help us stay front and center in the fight for Liberty and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign.

March 6, 2018

Harvey Schmidt Was Fantastic

You wonder how these things begin. For Harvey Schmidt, co-writer of the longest-running musical in history — who died last week at 88 — and his collaborator, Tom Jones, it began when the two were students at the University of Texas.

You wonder how these things begin. For Harvey Schmidt, co-writer of the longest-running musical in history — who died last week at 88 — and his collaborator, Tom Jones, it began when the two were students at the University of Texas.

In a sense it really began in their romantic hearts. No one could have written what these men wrote, unless they had ever been deeply and passionately in love. For those who consider themselves romantics, “The Fantasticks” allowed a young man to express his love for a girl without having to come up with the words himself.

The girl I took to see the show at the old Sullivan Theatre in New York remembers a half-century later. I know she does, though I haven’t seen her in almost that long. We went on to be captured by other loves, but speaking only for myself, I have never forgotten that night, that girl or that feeling.

In an age of so much political turmoil and nasty expressions of dislike, even hatred, for others, “The Fantasticks” provided a respite, a shelter, from the political storms.

Try to remember, if you can, and if you never saw the show or listened to the music, go to YouTube where it remains. “The Fantasticks” is about many things, but mostly it is about love. It touches the deepest recesses of one’s being and recalls memories of youthful emotions that were sometimes lost, but always recalled when the music plays in one’s head … or on a satellite radio.

It’s also about that “special place where someone held your hand. And love was sweeter than the berries or the honey. Or the stinging taste of mint. It is April — before a rainfall. Perfect time to be in love.”

See what I mean? As you read Jones’ words and listen to Schmidt’s haunting tunes, no matter your age today, you can “Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow.”

Is contemporary life ever slow and mellow? Not in Washington and in the big cities. Too often it is fast and bitter. Was life ever tender? Was there a time when “no one wept, except the willow” and “dreams were kept beside your pillow”? One wishes for that time.

A thin plot was all this little play needed. In the end, it was less about two fathers attempting to manipulate the lives of a son and daughter as it was a showcase for some wonderful songs. This was long before “Mamma Mia,” “Jersey Boys” and the current “Margaritaville” served as Broadway vehicles for hit tunes.

In 1992, “The Fantasticks” received a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. It remains the only off-Broadway show to ever have won a Tony, and deservedly so.

The show is a staple of high school productions and amateur theater companies. But for those of us who saw it early in its run, bought the album and memorized the lyrics to quote to a girl we loved, it is more than a show; it is a life experience never to be forgotten.

To that girl I took to see the show long ago in more innocent times, I offer this memory, hoping she will read it and will try to remember:

When the dance was done,
When I went my way,
When I tried to find rainbows far away,
All the lovely lights
Seemed to fade from view:
They were you.
They were you.
They were you.

© 2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.