NEW YORK ­- Jacob Pincus may have been the happiest of all the kids at the St. James Theater at Friday morning’s performance of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

Not only did the Long Island teen get to watch the first staging of the reopened holiday musical — he got to return to his role as Rugby Who at the two evening shows.

“It’s been disappointing and hard, but luckily we’re back, and we’re ready to work,” said Pincus, 14, who splits the part with twin brother Simon as alternating members of the “Red” and “White” casts of “Grinch.”

Pincus was among hundreds of theatergoers Friday who were the first to see “Grinch” since it played its opening night on Nov. 9 and was shuttered by the strike the next day, along with 26 other plays and musicals.

It reopened after a judge ruled this week that producers had a contract that should have excluded them from the job action. The move brought to nine the number of shows now playing on Broadway.

Before “Grinch” began its performance, executive producer James Sanna addressed the house. “This may be the first time in Broadway history a producer has made a curtain speech on two consecutive performances,” Sanna said. It’s traditional for show backers to make public statements on opening night.

“And now it’s 14 days later — our reopening night,” he said.

Tomm Miller, vice president of marketing for “Grinch,” estimated that about 1,500 of the seats at the 1,700-seat St. James had been sold for the first performance Friday.

On Monday, after the League of American Theatres and Producers said all Broadway shows that had been on strike would remain closed through this weekend, Telecharge notified “Grinch” ticketholders they would receive refunds.

But on Wednesday, a state Supreme Court judge granted the injunction filed by “Grinch” producers against Jujamcyn Theatres, owners of the St. James, agreeing that a special contract negotiated with the union should have spared “Grinch” from the strike.

No negotiations were forecast for this weekend between the League of American Theatres and Producers and Local One, the stagehands’ union.

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

AP-NY-11-23-07 2058EST