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'Grinch' Steals Back To Broadway

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By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, The Associated Press

Published: November 24, 2007

NEW YORK - The Grinch - not to mention all those singing and dancing Whos - came back to Broadway on Friday, two weeks after the musical about Dr. Seuss' celebrated green meanie was shut down because of the stagehands' strike.

When actor Patrick Page, dressed in his furry chartreuse costume, slunk on stage at the St. James Theatre, the crowd erupted in cheers. It was the first performance of "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!" since Nov. 9, the musical's opening night.

The walkout by the stagehands union the next day shut down more than two dozens plays and musicals.

Before the 11 a.m. performance (the first of four on Friday) began, producer James Sanna said: "This may be the first time in Broadway history a producer has made a curtain speech on two consecutive performances. The first one was a traditional one on our opening night and now 14 days later on our reopening.

"We have faced lots and lots of obstacles, and we are very happy to be back. But if there ever was a show and a company that deserves to be back, it is ours. I am very proud and humbled the way the whole company rallied around us on this."

Theatergoers milled in front of the theater, working their way through reporters and TV crews to get in. Meanwhile, across the street at the dark Majestic Theatre, which houses "The Phantom of the Opera," pickets from Local 1 quietly walked in a circle.

The reopening of the $6 million production was ordered Wednesday by state Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman.

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