The Theater: New Plays in Manhattan, Feb. 28, 1955

Tonight in Samarkand (by Jacques Deval and Lorenzo Semple Jr.) takes its theme from the famous Oriental legend—about the inevitability of fate—that also suggested John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra. The doom-dodger in this some—what Oriental tale of French circus life is a much-besought tamer of tigers (Jan Farrand), who, fearing the future, gazes into the crystal ball of the magician (Louis Jourdan). In two flash-forwards, the ball reveals that on her next birthday —whether she marries a juggler or a millionaire—she must perish in a steamship disaster. Finally, because his own future is the one thing the ball lacks the power...

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