When Jolson: The Musical pulls out of St. Petersburg, FL, Jan. 31, 1999 the tour will go on hiatus until Mar. 14, when it will resume in Sacramento, according to a spokesperson for the producer.
Dates to follow the Sacramento restart up have not yet been announced, but the production hopes to keep the cast together.
In Jolson, Mike Burstyn (Ain't Broadway Grand, Off Broadway's The Rothschilds ) sings the title role, with Helen A. Holliday, Harry A. Winter, Donna Lynne Champlin (as Ruby Keeler), Kenny Morris and Jeff Richards joining Burstyn in the panoramic show-business story.
Jolson -- The Musical, penned by Francis Essex and Rob Bettinson from an idea by Michael Freedland, is expected to play additional dates in 1999, so cities previously announced as possibilities -- Denver, Palm Desert, CA., Richmond, VA., Milwaukee, Seattle, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Atlanta and Vancouver, Montreal -- may yet be represented.
Bill Castellino directs Jolson, while Joey McKneely (Smokey Joe's Cafe ) choreographs. Designing Jolson -- The Musical are James Fouchard (set), Bruce Harrow (costumes), and John McLaine (lighting). Songs in the show will include such Jolson standards "Let Me Sing," "I'm Happy," "I'm Sitting On Top of the World," "Blue Skies," "April Showers," "Baby Face," "Carolina in the Morning," "Sunny Boy," "Rockabye Your Baby" and "Give My Regards To Broadway."
Jolson is not to be confused with another long-planned musical about the entertainer's life, The Jazz Singer, which has yet to obtain the financial backing for an intended New York production.
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Jolson suffered a tragedy at the end of 1998 when Bran Pace, one of the show's dancers, was attacked and shot in the neck by a mugger Nov. 27 as he walked from the Lyric Theatre to his hotel, in Baltimore.
Police are still investigating the attack, which has so-far left the 28 year-old Pace paralyzed from the waist down with a damaged spinal cord.
-- By Christine Ehren
and Kenneth Jones
and David Lefkowitz
and Robert Simonson
