Tom Jones, lyricist of The Fantasticks , the longest-running musical in history, dies at 95
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Tom Jones, who wrote the book and lyrics for The Fantasticks, the longest-running musical in theater history, has died. He was 95.
Jones died Friday at his home in Sharon, Conn., following a battle with cancer, his son Michael told The New York Times.
Born Feb. 17, 1928, in Littlefield, Tex., Jones studied drama at the University of Texas. There he met his longtime collaborator, Harvey Schmidt, with whom he would write all his major musicals. Their work included 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!, Philemon, and Celebration — but their first greatest success was The Fantasticks.
Everett Collection 'The Fantasticks' creator and lyricist Tom Jones
Originally titled Joy Comes to Dead Horse, Jones conceived the twist on Romeo and Juliet with composer John Donald Robb. It was an adaptation of Edmond Rostand's The Romancers, about a caucasian boy in love with a Latin girl named Maria. A college production of it was staged, but around the same time Stephen Sondheim's West Side Story opened with a similar plot and achieved massive success, and Jones' project seemed doomed to fail.
Later, Jones reworked the musical with Schmidt as his composer. They altered the story; added a narrator; stripped away the elaborate costumes, sets, and special effects; and instead presented a minimalist one-act version of the saga. Eventually, it expanded into a full two-act musical and opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City's Greenwich Village. Cast members of its Off Broadway and touring production included names like Liza Minnelli, Kristin Chenoweth, Elliott Gould, F. Murray Abraham, and Glenn Close.
The musical tracked the tale of a boy and girl who fall in love, grow apart, and later find their way back to each other. The original Off Broadway production ran for a total of 42 years, boasting more than 17,000 performances and making it the world's longest-running musical. It was awarded the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1991, and Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1998.
Jones often described his and Schmidt's success as "gradual." Initial reviews for The Fantasticks were mixed, but its staying power was undeniable. "We really struggled the first summer," Jones recalled in a 2016 TheaterMania interview. "Our producer was advised to close it on opening night. We opened in May, and in September, for the first time, we broke even at the box office. That was such a big event. And then we had 100 performances and a big party. Then it was a year and we did the television thing. We went to London, we got our first Broadway show [110 in the Shade], and then, suddenly, we had a lot of money coming in. By the 10-year anniversary, we kind of realized that it had really changed our lives."
He added, "We went to Beijing to see a production [being done] in Mandarin. Going into our hotel in Xi'an, the Muzak was playing [the Fantasticks song] 'Try to Remember.' And I thought, 'Well, I can afford to have an extra drink tonight.'"
Many more productions of the musical followed, making The Fantasticks a staple of regional and community theater. A film adaptation, penned by Schmidt and Jones, was released in 2000, and the show was revived Off Broadway and ran from 2006 to 2017.
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