 Nicholas Dante was hired by producer Jeff Britton to write "Jolson Tonight" after his previous Al Jolson musical, "Joley", failed in spring 1979.The show was written in a similar fashion to "A Chorus Line", Dante's previous musical, by having a series of recorded conversations with star Larry Kert about the public and private life of Al Jolson.The show was doing a pre-Broadway trial in five cities in the 1980 in preparation for a run on Broadway.