We’ve lost another legendary member of the American musical family with the passing of lyricist/librettist Tom Jones on August 11 of this year at the age of 95, so on this week’s Dress Circle (9/10 7:00 p.m.), we’re going to celebrate his career with songs from just a few of the shows he penned with his longtime partner, composer Harvey Schmidt who passed in 2018.
Jones is probably best known for “The Fantasticks” which the two premiered in 1960 at the Sullivan Street Theatre where it would go on to run for over 17,100 performances in nearly 42 years. Even the revival of “The Fantasticks” in 2006 ran for a healthy 4,390 performances, and in many of those performances, Jones appeared as Henry “The Old Actor” in many of the show’s performances under the pseudonym, Thomas Bruce.
Our celebration of the lives of these two men includes Broadway hits like “110 in the Shade” and “I Do! I Do!” along with shows that have been forgotten like “Celebration,” “Colette,” and “Roadside.”
There’s so much wonderful material penned by Jones and Schmidt, that we probably will mount another program in the future to include music that we just don’t have time for here.
If you only know “The Fantasticks,” please tune in this Sunday as we’re sure that you’ll hear some wonderfully written songs that came from the creative minds of two of Broadway’s best.
