Michael Ritchie's film adaptation of the long-running musical "The Fantasticks" has been postponed from the 1995 holiday season to early 1996. Trailers for the film have been popping up at cinemas in New York City, but composer Harvey Schmidt said the release was pushed back to January or later owing to a jam of higher-profile films in the weeks before Christmas.
A July preview of the film in a Los Angeles mall multiplex reportedly had mixed results. Some audience members objected to El Gallo stealing Luisa's necklace, a key (though previously uncontroversial) moment in Act II.
Realizing the film will appeal to a more specialized audience, producers are reorganizing promotion as well.
