Tom Jones, Creator Of The Longest-Running Musical ‘The Fantasticks,’ Dies At 95

NEW YORK — The longest-running musical in history, “The Fantasticks,” whose lyrics, direction, and writing were all done by Tom Jones, has passed away. He was 95.

According to Dan Shaheen, co-producer of “The Fantasticks,” who has known Jones since the 1980s, Jones passed away on Friday at his home in Sharon, Connecticut. Cancer was the cause.

Jones was elected into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1998. She collaborated with composer Harvey Schmidt on “The Fantasticks” as well as the Broadway productions of “110 in the Shade” and “I Do! I Do!”

The film “The Fantasticks,” based on a little-known play by Edmond Rostand, may not succeed. The entire set comprises a platform with poles, a curtain, and a wooden box.

In this story, a parody of “Romeo and Juliet,” a young boy and girl are covertly brought together by their fathers and a cast of bizarre people.

The play has featured many actors, from the original cast in 1960, which featured Jerry Orbach and Rita Gardner, to celebrities like Ricardo Montalban, Kristin Chenoweth, and “Frozen” star Santino Fontana. In 1991, the play won a Tony Honours for Excellence in Theatre.

The longest-running musical in history, “The Fantasticks,” whose lyrics, direction, and writing were all done by Tom Jones, has passed away. He was 95.

“So many people have come, and this thing stays the same — the platform, the wooden box, the cardboard moon,” Jones remarked to The Associated Press in 2013. “We simply arrive, do our little thing, and depart.”

The 153-seat Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village hosted the production for over 42 years. It ultimately closed in 2002 after 17,162 performances due to a devastated downtown following 9/11 and a new post-terrorism, tense atmosphere.

The Snapple Theatre Centre, which later changed its name to The Theatre Centre, an off-Broadway facility in the middle of Times Square, became the new home of “The Fantasticks” in 2006. The show celebrated performing 20,000 times in 2013. With a staggering 21,552 performances, it finished in 2017 and became the longest-running show in American theatre history.

In a way, Jones’ thinking finds it difficult to understand. It’s similar to life itself in that once you become used to it, you fail to recognize how remarkable it is. I’m amazed by it and glad for it.

The longest-running musical in history, “The Fantasticks,” whose lyrics, direction, and writing were all done by Tom Jones, has passed away. He was 95.

Hundreds of singers have covered its most well-known song, “Try To Remember,” including Ed Ames, Harry Belafonte, Barbra Streisand, and Placido Domingo. The songs “They Were You” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” are among the most well-known from the show.

Remember the type of September/When life was leisurely and oh, so mellow, according to the song “Try to Remember” lyrics. Try to recall September when the grass was green and the grain was yellow.

Despite initially negative reviews, it has endured. Act 2 was the only act that The New York Herald Tribune critic appreciated, and The New York Times critic said that the show was “the sort of thing that loses magic the longer it endures.”

The Broadway production “110 in the Shade,” written by Jones and Schmidt in 1963, led to the pair’s nomination for outstanding composer and lyricist at the Tony Awards. They followed in 1967 with the two-character Broadway musical “I Do! I Do!” which also garnered a Tony nomination for outstanding composer and lyricist.

Michael and Sam Jones, Jones’ two sons, are still living.

Such a decent person. On Facebook, Broadway veteran Danny Burstein remarked, “I adored him.

SOURCE – (AP)