The Fantasticks, the film version of the off-Broadway musical that's still running after a record-breaking forty years, was shot five years ago by director Michael Ritchie. No release until now. Uh-oh. Disaster? Pretty much. It was folly for Ritchie to shoot a spare theatrical piece against the sweeping landscapes of the Arizona prairie. But the folly sometimes pays off. Joe McIntyre, of New Kids on the Block, and Jean Louisa Kelly catch just the right note of youthful yearning in their voices (digital wizardry allowed the actors to sing live) as the teens whose fathers (Joel Grey and Brad Sullivan) scheme to bring them together by keeping them apart. The dads' plan involves hiring a traveling magician, El Gallo (a flamboyant Jonathon Morris), to stage a phony rape. Never mind. Even as the movie threatens to derail, the charm of the score, by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt — "Try to Remember," "Soon It's Gonna Rain," "I Can See It" — keeps breaking through.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”