Harvey Lester Schmidt (September 12, 1929 – February 28, 2018) was an American composer for

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complica ...

. He was best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

'', which ran

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

for 42 years, from 1960 to 2002.

Biography

Schmidt was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, Texas. He attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

to study art, but when he met Tom Jones at the university, he started to accompany the drama student on the piano. They soon started writing musicals together, the first being a revue. However, after serving in the Army, Schmidt moved to New York and worked as a graphic artist for

NBC Television The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

and later as an illustrator for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'', ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the s ...

'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'', and '' Fortune''. All of Schmidt's major musicals were written with lyricist Tom Jones. The duo is best-known for the musical ''

'', which ran for 42 years off-Broadway, from 1960 to 2002 for a total of 17,162 performances. He also collaborated on the 1995 feature film adaptation. In 1992, Schmidt received a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ...

honor for ''The Fantasticks'', then in its 33rd year. Jones and Schmidt followed with the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

musical '' 110 in the Shade'' in 1963, which ran for 330 performances on

and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Composer and Lyricist for Schmidt and Jones. ''

I Do! I Do! ''I Do! I Do!'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play ''The Fourposter''. The two-character story spans 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and down ...

'' followed in 1966, which brought

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (19 ...

and Robert Preston to the Broadway stage in a two-person musical and ran for 560 performances. Jones and Schmidt were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist and Best Musical. They both appeared in a revue of their songs, ''The Show Goes On'', at the York Theatre Company in 1997. The run was extended several times and the show was recorded on the DRG label. Schmidt and Jones wrote a musical based on

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays '' Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

's ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 throu ...

'', which took the duo thirteen years to write, only to have the rights rescinded by Wilders nephew,

Honours

Schmidt was inducted into the

American Theatre Hall of Fame The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...

. His recording, ''Harvey Schmidt Plays Jones and Schmidt'', was released in 2005. Schmidt and Jones were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in July 2012.

Songs

* "I Can See It" from the musical ''

''; later recorded by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

* "Much More" from the musical ''The Fantasticks''; later recorded by Barbra Streisand for ''

The Barbra Streisand Album ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' is the debut album by Barbra Streisand, released February 25, 1963, on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 2007 in mono and CS 8807 in stereo. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and has been certified a ...

'' * " Soon It's Gonna Rain" from the musical ''The Fantasticks''; later recorded by Barbra Streisand for ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' *" Try To Remember" from the musical ''The Fantasticks'' *"What is a Woman?" from the musical ''

,'' later recorded by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

*" My Cup Runneth Over" from the musical ''

,'' later recorded by

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and

Ed Ames Ed Ames (born Edmund Dantes Urick; July 9, 1927), who also recorded as Eddie Ames, is an American singer and actor. He is known for playing Mingo in the television series ''Daniel Boone'', and for his pop hits of the mid-to-late 1960s including ...

Theatre

* ''Shoestring '57'' (1957) * ''Demi-Dozen'' (1958) * ''

'' (1960) * '' New York Scrapbook'' (1961 TV Special) * '' 110 in the Shade'' (1963) * ''

'' (1966) * '' Celebration'' (1969) * '' The Bone Room'' (1968) * ''

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

'' (1970) * ''

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell. Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, a ...

'' (1972) * '' Philemon'' (1973) * ''Colette Collage'' (1982 revision) * ''Grovers Corners'' (1987) * '' Mirette'' (1996) * '' The Show Goes On'' (1997) * '' Roadside'' (2001)''Roadside'' (2001) Synopsis"
The Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed February 11, 2010

References

External links