The first Tom Jones musical to hit Broadway was 110 in the Shade. The 1963 original production starred Stephen Douglass, Will Geer, and Inga Swenson. But Jones’s first claim to fame came as lyricist (with composer Harvey Schmidt) for The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway for forty-two years and which starred Jerry Orbach on its opening night in 1960.
Though still active in the theater – he is currently appearing as the Old Actor in a revival of The Fantasticks – Tom Jones wrote only two more Broadway musicals in the 1960s. He wrote the book and lyrics for I Do! I Do! In 1966 (again with Harvey Schmidt) and three years later wrote the book, wrote the lyrics, and directed the musical Celebration.
Jones was nominated for three Tony Awards® for the musical I Do! I Do! in 1967. In 1961, he won the Drama Desk Vernon Rice Award for The Fantasticks. In 1992, Tom Jones won a special Tony® Honor for the show.
