Date: Fri 04-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Jolson-Shubert-Sonneborn

Full Text:

THEATRE REVIEW: A Celebration & Reinterpretation Of The Legend That Was Al

Jolson

By June April

NEW HAVEN -- Legends never die, they just get reinterpreted.

Singer, actor and all-around entertainer Al Jolson was bigger than life, a

legend in his own mind as well as in the minds of millions of people who still

remember him and his unforgettable style.

The musical Jolson , starring the talented Mike Burstyn, is at the Shubert

Performing Arts Center until June 13, and it is fitting for the show to be at

one of this country's most historic theatres. Jolson himself headlined in

eight productions here over his career.

Impressively mounted, the two dozen plus actors and songs in Jolson bring to

the audience a most enjoyable 2« hours of entertainment. While the show is

just now appearing in New Haven, it is already an award-winner. A little

judicious editing would be desirable, but since it won the Olivier Award for

Best Musical in 1997, that seems to be a matter of taste.

Some don't subscribe to the view that more is better. Jolson the performer,

however, could never sing too much: "You ain't heard nothin' yet" truly was

his performing philosophy.

He let the structured world of Jewish orthodoxy to join the circus. Early on

it was Jolson who adapted the "black-face" of the minstrel style and moved

into vaudeville as a singer/entertainer. It was the first talking movie, The

Jazz Singer , that brought him to the hearts and eyes of millions of people in

1927.

Jolson once acted in a 1923 movie entitled Mammy's Boy , directed by D.W.

Griffith. That film was never completed. Over his half-decade career, Jolson

appeared in or dubbed songs for 15 feature films.

Culminating in a cameo appearance and dubbing his music, Jolson Sings Again

appeared in 1949, just a year before his death of a heart attack in 1950 at

age 64. The opening at The Victoria Palace in London was October 23, 1996, in

observation of the anniversary of Jolson's death.

The musical now in New Haven commemorates a phenomenon, a man who excited

audiences the same way Billy Joel or Mick Jagger does today. An expert on

film, Jon Sonneborn, who saw this production in London, observed this week

that the Shubert's production had been modified somewhat. There is less stress

on the negative nature of Jolson's personality.

Mr Sonneborn also noted, and not surprisingly, that liberties were taken with

the singer's life story.

"I met Ruby Keeler about 20 years and she told me Jolson did stand-up from the

audience and sang to her when she was in a Ziegfeld show," Mr Sonneborn said.

He went on to say Ms Keeler found Jolson to be annoying and that was before he

was really famous, and before they got married a few years later.

"In the second act, in the film clip," Mr Sonneborn pointed out, "that's

actually Jolson singing. And in a long shot, he actually does some dance steps

that Larry Parks couldn't capture."

An admirer of the Jolson talents and most knowledgeable about the man, Mr

Sonneborn noted that the man never used a microphone and people claimed that

even the back walls of theatres he performed in would vibrate from the power

of his voice.

Jolson is nostalgia at its best, and great music for any age group. Co-written

by Francis Essex and Rob Bettison, it is based on Michael Freedland's book on

Jolson. A risk-taker and gambler, Al Jolson initiated new directions in

entertainment. He was the first big name to take a Broadway show on the road,

the first to garner a salary of $10,000 a week, the first to have record sales

topping the million-dollar mark, the first to perform before American troops

abroad, and the first to be broadcast performing on television.

Jolson, the man, was certainly over the top and ahead of his time. Jolson, the

musical, is worth your time and money.

(Performances continue through June 13 at the Shubert, on College Street in

New Haven. Contact the theatre for performance times and ticket availability

at 562-5666.)