Tom Jones (born 1928, in Littlefield, Texas), is an American lyricist (and often librettist) of musical theatre.
His best-known work is The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, "Try to Remember". Other songs from The Fantasticks include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More" and "I Can See It". He also wrote the screenplay for the 1995 feature film adaptation.
Jones acted in a New York City revival of The Fantasticks, which he also directed. He played the part of the Old Actor, which he played when the musical opened in 1960, from April 26, 2010, to June 6, 2010. He was credited as an actor in the show as Thomas Bruce. The show is still running at the Snapple Theater.
Jones is also the author of Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theater, about which Elyse Sommer wrote on January 15, 1998 in CurtainUp:
All of Jones's major musicals were written with Harvey Schmidt, whom he met at the University of Texas at Austin.