Broadway performer and producer Jana Robbins will be presented with the Jewish National Fund's Tree of Life Award at the Razzle Dazzle New York Dinner on Monday, September 26th at the Rainbow Room. Robbins' Better World Productions is "dedicated to making a difference in the quality of our lives by presenting plays and films that help us create a better world." She was recently one of the producers of Little Women, which will soon embark on a national tour. As an actress, she made her Broadway debut in Good News and went on to star in I Love My
Wife, Crimes of the Heart, Romance/Romance, and The Tale of the Allergist's
Wife. She played
Mazeppa in Gypsy while standing by for Tyne
Daly as Mama Rose, a role she played for forty performances. Robbins' critically-acclaimed cabaret
act One Hell of a Ride (The songs of Cy Coleman) ran for three
months in New York. Her national tours include Man of La Mancha,
Footloose and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, and her television and film credits include "Law and Order," "Law and Order SVU," "Cheers," A Place for Sara, East
End, Haunted Heart, Executive Target and The Last Days of Frankie the
Fly, which she helped develop and cast.
The dinner program will include performances by Broadway stars, and funds
raised will support JNF projects in Israel including vital water
projects for drought relief. The JNF Tree of Life Award is a humanitarian award presented to
individuals for their outstanding community involvement, their
dedication to the cause of American-Israeli friendship, and their
devotion to peace and the security of human life. The award recognizes
leaders for their achievements and innovations in industry, government
and education. Also receiving the Tree of Life Award at the September
26th gala will be Chess Olympian and Grand Master Susan Polgar and Teri
Weiss, Nickelodeon Vice-President, a division of Viacom. Al Gore, Colin Powell, Nobel laureate Elie Weisel, Donald Trump, the late American Theatre Wing board chairman Isabelle Stevenson, Tovah Feldshuh and Jerry Zaks are past recipients of the award.For more information about the Razzle Dazzle gala please contact Cynthia Lieb at 212-706-0014. For more information on JNF or to plant trees in Israel, call 1-800-542-TREE (8733) or visit http://www.jnf.org/.
