The Scottsboro Boys
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Cititour.com Review
No one can say that the team behind the Broadway transfer of "The Scottsboro Boys" isn’t courageous. Kander and Ebb’s last musical based upon an ugly, and shameful, true event in American history, sashays onto the stage with depression-era flavored choreography from Susan Stroman in the framework of a Minstrel show pushing the boundaries between irony and audacity. The story of nine young African American men falsely accused of a vicious assault, with an uneven book by David Thompson, nervously vacillates between a chilling tale of wrongdoing and a flawed and repetitive history lesson. When it’s good, it’s very good, provocative and full of creative energy. When it’s not, it sags under the weight of its own import.
The ensemble cast is exemplary including Joshua Henry as Haywood Patterson, the proud and defiant prisoner whose mother taught him never to lie and so he will not. His vocal prowess is displayed on Kander and Ebb’s winning ballad, "Go Back Home." Also of note, Coleman Domingo, and Forrest McClendon, in the minstrel show, as Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, respectively, and numerous other roles including a mean-spirited southern sheriff and the gang of nine’s New York attorney. Also present as the Interlocutor, or master of ceremonies, is theatre veteran John Cullum, the only white cast member whose mastery of the stage adds assurance to his role.
Stroman’s inventive direction utilizing Beowulf Boritt’s simple set of silver chairs and a few boards to depict everything from a jostling boxcar to a cell of solitary confinement is a masterpiece of fluidity. Stroman uses theatrical conventions, like simple shadows on a white sheet, to smartly accentuate the sparseness of the space.
There is a tender place in the theatre world for "The Scottsboro Boys" as it is lyricist Fred Ebb’s last contribution to the American Musical in an illustrious career that includes other groundbreaking shows like "Cabaret" and "Chicago." His long time collaborator, John Kander, contributed lyrics to finish the piece. There is no doubt that the astute observations present in songs like "Southern Days" and "Financial Advice" do the Kander and Ebb cannon proud.
But "The Scottsboro Boys" isn’t an easy show to rally behind wholeheartedly even though it’s a thought-provoking look at the challenges we still face with racial inequality in America. David Thompson’s book tries too hard to be clever and, the outrage of the injustice depicted here, is never allowed to come to a complete boil.
By Lesley Alexander
Visit the Site
http://scottsboromusical.com
Cast
Josh Breckenridge, Derrick Cobey, E. Clayton Cornelious, John Cullum, Colman Domingo, Jeremy Gumbs, Joshua Henry, Rodney Hicks, Kendrick Jones, James T. Lane, Forrest McClendon, JC Montgomery, Clinton Roane, Cherene Snow, Julius Thomas III, Sharon Washington, Christian Dante White
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/7/2010
Closing 12/12/2010
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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