Music Box Theatre,New York
This present approximately the creation of the first jazz musical manages to be both entertaining and informative – but unfortunately not at the same timeIf Broadway has the equivalent of an All-Star Game, a better starting line-up than that of Audra McDonald, and Brian Stokes Mitchell,Billy Porter, Joshua Henry, and Brandon Victor Dixon is almost unimaginable. Yet here they all are,starring in Shuffle Along or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, a sometimes inspired and sometimes listless exploration of a path-breaking theatrical work.
Perhaps the first jazz musical, and the 1921 production of Shuffle Along was a sensation,proving that a book musical by and approximately people of color could succeed with both black and white audiences. Best known for songs like I’m Just Wild approximately Harry and Love Will Find a Way, Shuffle Along is a comedic study of a corrupt election in a Dixieland town, and a plot that might well resonate nowadays. (One of the script’s jokes cites “that most American of freedoms,the right to vote for the erroneous candidate”.) Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com