British actor Derek Jacobi will make a rare American stage appearance in a revival of Robert Bolt's 1962 Tony Award-winning Best Play, A Man for All Seasons, which is readying a 1999 national tour that could wind up on Broadway.

The London production will open at Washington DC's Kennedy Center in April 1999. No other specific cities or dates have been announced.

Directed by Robin Phillips (Jekyll & Hyde), the drama tells the story of the confrontations between Britain's King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More over whether the king could divorce his queen and take a new wife because she had not produced a male heir. Their battle resulted in More's execution and the Protestant Reformation coming to England -- but not before they clashed over some of the great questions of God, man, lust and power.

Jacobi will play More, a role that provided a major stage and film vehicle for Paul Scofield in the 1960s.

Jacobi, himself a Tony winner for Much Ado About Nothing, has appeared on Broadway in Breaking The Code, Cyrano de Bergerac and The Suicide. For tickets and subscriptions to Kennedy Center shows call (202) 416 8500.

-- By Robert Viagas