• The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour
Sat 25 October to Sat 1 November 1986

8 performances
Hampton Court Theatre, United Kingdom


The Grand Tour
by Franz Werfel
Book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble. Music & Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Set in 1940 France an unlikely team pair up to evade the approaching nazis. Little Jacobowsky, a polish jewish intellectual has been one step ahead of the nazis for years. Stjerbinsky is an aristocratic, anti-semitic, Polish Colonel who is trying to get to England. Jacobowsky has a car but can't drive. The Colonel Can and so begins their journey. Accompanied by the colonels girlfriend Marianne they go to a carnival, a jewish wedding and onto a train when the car breaks down. Jacobowsky falls in love with Marianne but it is not to be. He leaves the two to begin his own grand tour of life as the curtain falls.

Based on S.N. Behrman's adaptation of Franz Werfel's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel.

Review by Eric Braun for The Stage and Television Today (November 1986)

Jenny Lee, when Minister for the Arts, commented to Youth Action Theatre Director, Eric Yardley when she arrived for a performance "The Hampton Court Theatre is the best kept secret in the country". I found my way, compass in hand, to confront the same Director at the same theatre for The Grand Tour. This struck me as a peculiarly apt title when I eventually emerged from the bushes concealing the entrance to the mansion which houses the theatre. Not a signpost in view, which Eric Yardley explains is not permitted to a Theatre Club.

This seems both odd and regrettable and prompts the query, how many prospective customers have been lost for ever in the labyrinthine depth of the gardens surrounding Hampton Court's delightful theatre? The quality is most certainly there, judging from this treatment of Franz Werfel's original play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, which S N Behram translated for the American Theatre and which Jerry Herman wrote the lyrics from the book by Michael Steward and Mark Bramble.

This is the first production in England of the musical, which had a successful run in the USA with Joel Gray in the lead, although people with long memories may recall Danny Kaye in the 1958 film version known as Me and the Colonel. Mention of these two stars gives a fair indication of the nature of the lead character, a man whose apparent simplicity leads him triumphantly through the most dangerous and taxing situations, ahead of the autocratic Colonel who joins him and other companions in an escape from the Nazis in war-torn Europe. Eric Yardley has had the good fortune and prescence to pick on Joe Early, a young man with little stage training, whose combination of good looks, ingenuousness and the ability to find his way through Jerry Herman's sometimes tortous lyrics suggest that he could have a promising future in the straight theatre if he were to work for it.

He leads a large cast - 50 by my count - with charm and enthusiasm through this most ambitious exercise for the group; Darryl Day plays up diligently as the Colonel, the stage is cleverly deployed to suggest the Grand Tour through Europe, Graham Osborne's setting is ingenious and full marks to MD Duncan Jones and choreographer Kim Scott. A brave venture, bravely executed.
Cast
Role Name
S L JacobowskyJoe Early
Mme BouffierNancy Brown
CziesnoMark Ruffell-Hazell
JeannotJoel Aryeety
Colonel Tadeusz Boleslav StjerbinskyDarryl Day
SzabuniewiczDavid Wheatley
ChauffeurMartin Dunning
Captain Meuller of the S.S.Christopher Ivey
Mme VauclainRoney Viney
MarianneMarion Benton
Train ConductorClive Stott
Hugo, the Hungarian HerculesDaniel Sumpton
Mme ManzoniSonya Peskett
Mme LillianCatherine Early
German SoldierMartin Dunning
Colin Smith
Daniel Sumpton
BargemanJohn Gale
Man with Flower in his LapelSimeone Pickford
Papa ClaironGiles Porter
A Young ManColin Smith
ClaudineJulia Early
Bride's MotherCatherine Early
Bride's FatherDavid Hannigan
Bride's AuntWhimsy Meara
BrideJulie Cookson
GroomJohn Gale
PedlerJoel Aryeety
Mother MadeleineMichaela Channing
Sister RolandeCatherine Early
EnsembleHoward Branch
Lucy Baldwin
Sarah Sawyer
Fiona McMahon
Kristen Bowditch
Nancy Brown
Julie Cookson
Catherine Early
Julia Early
Whimsy Meara
John Gale
David Hannigan
Giles Porter
Joel Aryeety
Mark Ruffell-Hazell
Colin Smith
Clive Stott
Roney Viney
Sonya Peskett
Michaela Channing
Crew
Role Name
DIRECTOREric Yardley
MUSICAL DIRECTORDuncan Jones
ASSISTANT MDSarah Willis
CHOREOGRAPHERKim Beale
STAGE MANAGERFiona Andrews
ASSISTANT SMPhilip Short
LIGHTINGChris Davies
LIGHTING ASSISTANTCarol Pain
Jean Goodwin
Eddie Dapre
Ashley Pinn
Alan Jamieson - Follow Spot
SOUNDRichard Eliot
WARDROBEEleanor Baker
WARDROBE ASSISTANTEileen Baker
Sarah Young
Ludmilla Ward
SET DESIGNERGraham Osborne
PROPERTIESSimeone Pickford
Chantal Addley
Bronwen Davies
PROMPTAlison Pullen
PROJECTIONSRichard Eliot
ADDITIONAL LYRICSSarah Beeson
COMPOSERSteve Nicholson
FRONT OF HOUSEStephen Bentley
BOX OFFICEBiddy Osborne
Band
Role Name
PIANODuncan Jones
PERCUSSIONWilliam Armstrong
TROMBONEMark Wheatley
FRENCH HORN AND SYNTHESISERSarah Willis
TRUMPETWill Tipper

Supporting Material
View the Programme