''Jolson'' is a musical with a book by

Francis Essex Francis Essex (24 March 1929 – 5 March 2009) was a British television and stage producer, author and composer. Essex's career spanned several decades during which he worked for several TV production companies. His jobs included: Light Enterta ...

and Rob Bettinson and a score composed of tunes by some of the all-time greatest

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

s of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

. Based on the life of singer

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

, one of America's most popular entertainers, it spans thirty years of his career. Out of the limelight, the plot emphasizes his personal faults as much as it does his professional successes. Other major characters include his wife

Ruby Keeler Ethel Ruby Keeler (August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was paired on-screen with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Bros., particularly '' 42nd Street'' (1933). From ...

and his longtime friend and agent Louis Epstein. The West End production, directed by Bettinson, opened on October 26, 1995 at the

Victoria Palace Theatre The Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station. The structure is categorised as a Grade II* listed building. History Origins The theatre began life as a small conc ...

, where it ran for seventeen months. The cast included

Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of ''The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-ye ...

as Jolson,

Sally Ann Triplett Sally Ann Triplett (born 15 April 1962, London, England) is a British singer and actress. She participated in two editions of the Eurovision Song Contest and West End productions. Career Triplett first represented the United Kingdom in the E ...

as Keeler, and John Bennett as Epstein. Under the auspices of the Laurence Olivier Awards, it won the American Express Award for Best New Musical. Olivier nominations went to Conley for Best Actor in a Musical and Bennett for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. An

original cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

was recorded live during the performances of February 29, March 1, and March 2, 1996 and released by First Night Records.http://www.footlight.com/product.cfm?product_id=2765 original cast album ''Jolson - The Musical'' was staged at the

Royal Alexandra Theatre The Royal Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as the Royal Alex, is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located near King and Simcoe Street. Built in 1907, the 1,244-seat Royal Alex is the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in Nort ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

from June through October 1997. A proposed move to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

never materialized.

Song list

*I'm Sitting on Top of the World *Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody *Toot-Toot-Tootsie Goodbye *There's a Rainbow Round My Shoulder *Let Me Sing and I'm Happy *For Me and My Gal *You Made Me Love You * Swanee *California Here I Come *Blue Skies *My Mammy *This is the Army, Mr. Jones *I'm Just Wild About Harry *I Only Have Eyes for You *Waiting for the Robert E. Lee *Swanee *Baby Face *Sonny Boy *

The Spaniard That Blighted My Life "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" is a comic song which was composed and first performed by English music-hall performer Billy Merson. It starts It was performed by Al Jolson in his show ''The Honeymoon Express'' and he recorded it for Victor ...

*I'm Just Wild About Harry *Around a Quarter to Nine *Carolina in the Morning *Give My Regards to Broadway *My Mammy (Reprise)

References

External links

Toronto review
{{OlivierAward Musical 1976–2000 1995 musicals West End musicals Musicals inspired by real-life events Laurence Olivier Award-winning musicals British musicals

Song list

See also

References

External links