By Alfred Branch, Jr.

A New York judge has decided not to steal the Grinch from its fans over the holidays. The popular family show, ”Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical”, will re-open this Friday, Nov. 23, for a new spate of performances, following a ruling today by New York Supreme Court Judge Helen E. Freedman.

The show will be allowed to re-open, despite the ongoing Broadway stagehands strike, because of a separate deal the show’s producers were able to negotiate with the union months ago.

Jujamcyn Theaters, owners of the St. James Theatre where the show is playing, initially balked at allowing the show to open, partly out of solidarity with fellow theaters from the League of American Theatres and Producers. Jujamcyn’s action prompted the producers of the Grinch to file the injunction to allow the show to go on, which they won today.

The show opened Nov. 9 and shut down the next day when the strike started. It needed to cut the side deal with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees because it was scheduling 12-15 shows per week, almost twice the number of shows mandated by the prevailing contract by the union and producers.