In these three media, he has written script for, and/or composed songs for, and/or directed such notable individuals as MARTIN SHORT, LORNE MICHAELS, MARY TYLER MOORE, ANNE MURRAY, GORDON PINSENT, ALAN THICKE, ALEX TREBECK, SHIRLEY JONES, DAVID CASSIDY, PETER LAWFORD, GEORGIA ENGLE, ANDY GRIFFITH, RICH LITTLE, RITA MCNEIL, MEAT LOAF, BARBARA EDEN, KAREN KAIN, SHARI LEWIS (and Lamb Chop!), EARTHA KITT, PAUL WILLIAMS, PETER O'TOOLE, and a whole bunch more.
He has written book, music and lyrics for several musicals. His first was a pop/rock opera based on HAMLET originally commissioned, produced and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio Network and won the International Radio Award the Prix Italienne. Produced on stage in Canada as KRONBORG:1582, and starring BRENT CARVER and BEVERLY D'ANGELO it ran for two highly successful years in major theatres in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal and Charlottetown. As ROCKABYE HAMLET, directed on Broadway by the legendary GOWER CHAMPION and bearing little resemblance to the Canadian production, it played for four weeks of standing-ovation previews. Opening night it got slammed by a critic or two and closed a week later. A few years later, Jones took it back to what it had been in Canada and, with the title SOMETHING'S ROCKIN' IN DENMARK the originally-scheduled four-week run in Los Angeles turned into fourteen months! It won seven L.A. theatre awards. In June, 2008, SOMETHING'S ROCKIN' IN DENMARK enjoyed a sell-out run at the prestigious St. Lawrence Centre For The Arts, produced by Toronto's Capricorn 9 / Larry Westlake productions.
Jones's next CBC-produced musical was HEY MARILYN starring Beverly D'Angelo. It was nominated for two Canadian awards and won two international awards. Please read more about HM's history on the HISTORY page on this web site.
 Cliff Jones |
| The next
CBC-produced Jones musical was SOME OF MY BEST RATS ARE FRIENDS
starring MARTIN SHORT. Short played the role of Jones in this
rather bizarre tale of Jones running rats through mazes
for his Master's thesis in Psychology at the University of
Calgary (true story). It goes on to describe the 'family'-type
relationship he had with his rats (not true). The next two CBC-produced Jones musicals were FOR THE LOVE OF HOWARD, a musical biography of Howard Hughes (nominated for several domestic awards) and; ALEXANDRA:THE LAST EMPRESS based on the final year of Csarist rule in Russia by Nicholas, from the P.O.V. of his Csarina, Alexandra. The latter show has been produced on stage once, at the Charlottetown Festival. |
 SOMETHING'S ROCKIN' IN DENMARK-L.A. production |
 Cliff LOVED writing songs for Shari Lewis and "Lamb Chop's Play-A-Long" on PBS |
 Rasputin (L), Alexandra and Nicholas from Jones's ALEXANDRA: THE LAST EMPRESS |
| Jones also
wrote/composed a real family musical called BABIES. It has
enjoyed about a dozen productions starting with the
Charlottetown Festival. It's most recent production was a hugely
successful run in Sydney, Australia. Find out more about BABIES
at
www.babiesthemusical.com Jones is currently juggling his time between teaching High School English and Drama, with writing two new musicals awaiting production in Toronto. writing a book about education, and over-seeing new productions of his musicals. |