"Remarkably clever...charming. Just what the Doctor ordered."
Matthew Fraser, Toronto Globe and Mail,
National Edition

"Jones has created a unique world in which childhood, children and parents are examined with much hunour aand a great deal of truth...melodic, catchy and lyrically clever...entertaining, witty and intelligent."
Basil Deacon, Halifax Chronicle Herald 
  Inventive...tuneful...dramatic."
Sid Adilman, Variety reviewer

"Colourful, upbeat, lively, delightful and clever...a good dose of reality."
Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen
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ABOUT CLIFF JONES (Writer/Composer of Book, Music and Lyrics)

Cliff Jones has won domestic and international awards for his work in musical theatre, television and network radio.

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 an international award-winning musical biography of Marilyn Monroe. HEY MARILYN was originally commissioned, produced and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's National Radio Network. It has enjoyed two highly successful stage productions. To find out more, please go to  www.heymarilynthemusical.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.