It's been almost two years since a really good American born and bred musical has come to Broadway ["Next To Normal" was the last one] so it's a pleasure to welcome "THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS" uptown after it's acclaimed Off-Broadway run last summer. I'm not saying this final collaboration of the great team of John Kander and Fred Ebb is perfect by any means[Mr. Ebb died shortly after the first workshop was held] but it is a brave show that has something important to say and says it with a reasonable amount of wit and intelligence.
The book by David Thompson adresses one of the gravest abuses of human rights ever to happen in a cort of law in this country. On a spring morning in 1931, nine African American boys boarded a boxcarheading through Alabama lookingfor a new life.By the end of the day they were accused of raping two white women. This was a crime they never committed and the trials that followed caused a sensation all over the country and marked a turning point for the civil rights movement.
This powerful tale is told in the form of a minstrel show and points out the bigotry that was going on at that time. While this concept is confusing at times it sometimes works and when it does it presents it's story in a novel and interesting way and if the score is not on the level of Kander and Ebb's best work it is still head and shoulders above almost anything I have heard on Broadway over the last couple of years. It is Powerful, infectious and very well orchestrated by Larry Hochman.
That this show works as well as it does is a real tribute to Susan Stroman's masterful direction and choreography, and the cast from top to bottom is first rate.
While "THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS" is not the masterpeice it could have been it is still a fine and sometimes first rate musical, and well worth the attention of serious musical theatre fans. It is also a fitting farewell to the great team of John Kander and Fred Ebb.
At THE LYCEUM THEATRE 149 WEST 45th STREET N.Y.C.
A FOOTNOTE---The same story was used as the basis for a drama called "They Shall Not Die" in 1934. It was a failure running only 72 performances.
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I'm trying to picture in my mind this story told as a minstral show and simply can't fathom how or even why it would be attempted.
ReplyDeleteA play about this after only three years of the event is impressive and speaks well for social conscience on Broadway. Was 72 performances considered a failure in those days?