NEW YORK (AP) – The lyricist and director of the musical “The Fantasticks” has died. Tom Jones – not to be confused with the Welsh singer of the same name – died of cancer Friday at his home in Sharon, Connecticut. He was 95. Jones teamed with composer Harvey Schmidt to create “The Fantasticks,” which became the longest-running musical ever. The most famous song from that was “Try to Remember,” which was covered by Ed Ames, Harry Belafonte, Barbra Streisand and Placido Domingo. Jones told The Associated Press in 2013 he could not grasp how successful the show had been, but he was grateful and astonished. Jones and Schmidt had also written the Broadway shows “110 in the Shade” and “I Do! I Do!”
NEW YORK (AP) – Among those feeling the pinch from the Hollywood strikes are the people who make the actors look good. In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, hair and makeup stylists who work on film and TV projects say they’re in danger of losing their homes and health insurance. One makeup artist says as many as five months before the screenwriters went on strike, studios were not greenlighting projects, so many hair and makeup people felt the impact early. Another says his workload has been erased and there is no Plan B.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – “Barbie” is the top draw at the movie theater for a fourth week. It earned another $33.7 million domestically this weekend, according to studio estimates. It also passed the $500 million mark in North America, a week after it hit $1 billion globally. This week’s second-place movie is “Oppenheimer,” with third place going to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” “Meg 2: The Trench” is number four. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” makes its debut in fifth.
