The run closed September 5, 1993
- Opened
- April 26, 1992
- Closed
- September 5, 1993
- Performances
- 569
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- August Wilson Theatre
Of the 368 productions we hold that opened in the 1990s and record a performance count, this is the 40th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it31 named
Adrian Bailey
Sherry D Boone
Ralph Deaton
Melissa Haizlip
Cee Cee Harshaw
Don Johanson
Victoria Gabrielle Platt
Gil Pritchett Iii
Michelle M Robinson
Gordon Joseph Weiss
Allison M Williams
Brian Mitchell
Nora Cole
Steven Cates
Peter Jay Fernandez
Patty Holley
15 of these 31 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 16 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- George C. Wolfe
- Choreographer
- Ted L. Levy, Gregory Hines, Hope Clarke, Hope Clarke Tap Choreography: Gregory Hines
- Producer
- Margo Lion and Pamela Koslow in association with PolyGram Diversified Entertainment, 126 Second Avenue Corp./Hal Luftig, Roger Hess, Jujamcyn Theaters/TV Ashahi and Herb Alpert
- Orchestrations
- Luther Henderson
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Tony Awards 0 from 1 nomination
| Best Musical | Nominated |
Around this production
The problem with musicals now is the same as the problem with plays: size. Economics now favor only the big.
GREGORY HINES. Broadway Babylon Boze Hadleigh, p. 123- Wolfe, George C. Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk Jelly’s Last Jam Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 387
- Jelly’s Last Jam (4/26/92; 569 performances) was a musicalization of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, self-proclaimed inventor of jazz. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 569
- George Wolfe scrunched the songs of Jelly Roll Morton (the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz) into the musical theatre idiom in 1992’s Jelly’s Last Jam. Broadway Musicals the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Bloom Ken 1949 Vlastnik Fra, p. 75
- 26 April: Jelly’s Last Jam, a fantasy on Jelly Roll Morton’s last day on earth starring Gregory Hines, opens at the Virginia Theater for a run of 569 performances. Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 31
- Jukebox musicals showcasing music and performances by African Americans such as Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978, featuring the music of Thomas “Fats” Waller) and Jelly’s Last Jam (1992, featuring the music of Jelly Roll Morton) have been extremely successful. Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 45
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Jelly’s Last Jam at all.
- No show page for Jelly’s Last Jam. The work is here as a title and a year, and nothing more has been gathered about it.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.