Broadway Sam

Composed and Sung
by Harvey Schmidt

 
 
 

Sam Jones as El Gallo

 
 

Tom on Broadway Sam

When Sam was three and a half years old, we took him with us to Japan to make our first (of three) tours of THE FANTASTICKS.  I was the director and I played the Old Actor, a role I had created in the original production. Janet did the musical staging and Michael, six months old, remained in New York with "Nonnie," his nursemaid. Though Janet and Sam only stayed a few weeks as we rehearsed and opened in Tokyo, it was long enough for Sam to become completely immersed in the show. He learned all the lines and all of the songs and we gave him a moustache and a red scarf in case he ever had to go on as El Gallo. (See photo.) He became so involved that, after our first run-through, I saw him sitting out in the empty auditorium looking very serious and sad. I asked him what was the matter and he replied: "I'm worried about Act Two." Harvey, who was very amused and delighted by his behavior, surprised us by writing and recording "Broadway Sam," another example of Harvey's generosity and his gifts, not only as a composer but as a lyricist as well.

A few years later, when Michael was three and and a half years old, he joined Sam to form a knock-out musical duo, seen in this photo entertaining guests in front of the "bar" in our house in Connecticut.  Interestingly, they neither of them felt impelled to follow the stage as a career, although Sam did join a very successful soft rock band later in life, where he got to tour the U. S. and Europe many times.  Also Australia and Mexico.  Everyplace but Japan.  He is now writing songs (some with me) and Michael has become a successful businessman (and a proud papa). Don't get me started - or the rest of the website will be buried in a mountain of family photos.

 

Sam & Michael Jones

 
 
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Tom & Harvey Photos