One of the most awaited productions of this season, Jean-Luc Revol's sensual staging of Shakespeare's The Tempest, has been canceled due to its leading man's precarious health.

Jean Marais, who celebrated his 84th birthday this year, was supposed to play Prospero but has suffered from pneumonia since October. After a first postponement of the opening night, the production has finally been canceled. The play was originally scheduled to open in mid-October at the Theatre de l'Eldorado.

According to the production spokesperson, the national tour which was supposed to take place in early 98 might still happen, even though another leading man might replace Marais.

Meanwhile, a Marivaux's classic, The Surprise of Love, has transferred to the Theatre de l'Eldorado after a successful run at the Theatre Sylvia Montfort. Brigitte Fossey stars in this production. Fossey, famous in France for her movie roles, has worked under the direction of Gene Kelly when she was only ten, in Kelly's movie The Happy Road. More recently, she also starred in a film version of another Marivaux's classic The False Confessions.

Marivaux turns out to be one of the most popular playwright of the season. While a production of The False Confessions recently closed at the Comedie Francaise, a small-scale staging of The Double Inconstancy is currently running at the Theo Theatre and a much awaited production of The Triumph of Love will open at the Odeon-Theatre de l'Europe on April 16. For tickets and information on La Surprise de l'Amour at the Theatre de l'Eldorado, call 331 42 38 07 54.

-- By Stephane Ly-Cuong
France Correspondent