In recent years, JRT has been staging concert readings of shows rather than presenting fully-staged seasons.
Stuart Zagnit, who played Jacobowsky in the 1988 JRT revised revival, will stage the concert presentation. The show, which features the cabaret and audition favorite, "Marianne," has music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble. It follows the unusual friendship between a Polish colonel and the Jewish Jacobowsky who are on the run across Europe during World War II. Jacobowsky finds himself attracted to the colonel's lover, Marianne.
Alert fans of Herman's work will note some musical phrases from the score were interpolated into Herman's latest score, Miss Spectacular, a show written in the 1990s for Las Vegas and now available on CD.
The cast includes Paul Ukena as the Colonel, Kim Lindsay as Marianne, Steve Sterner, Don Atkinson and Kenny Boys. Albert Ahronheim will be musical director.
The Grand Tour originally starred Joel Grey, Ron Holgate and Florence Lacey in the triangle. The musical's source material, Jacobowsky and the Colonel, is play by Franz Werfel. The score includes "I'll Be Here Tomorrow," "You I Like," "For Poland," "I Belong Here," "I Think I Think," "More and More"/"Less and Less," "We're Almost There," "One Extraordinary Thing" and more. The show ran 61 performances at the Palace Theatre in 1979.
Performances are 8 PM Jan. 23, 3 and 7 PM Jan. 26 and 2 PM Jan. 27 at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street. All tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling (917) 606-8200. Ran Avni is artistic director of JRT.
