The first production since its Broadway run, The Scottsboro Boys will feature the original direction and choreography of Susan Stroman, re-created by Jeff Whiting.
The company will include original Broadway cast members Derrick Cobey, Rodney Hicks, Kendrick Jones, Forrest McClendon, JC Montgomery and Clinton Roane, who will be joined by newcomers Andrew Arrington, Gilbert L. Bailey II, Nile Bullock, Ron Holgate, Eric Jackson, David Bazemore and Kaci Fannin.
The Scottsboro Boys features music and lyrics by the legendary team of John Kander and Fred Ebb and book by David Thompson.
The Scottsboro Boys, according to the Philadelphia Theatre Company, is a "stirring and highly original musical that explores the infamous 1930's 'Scottsboro Case' in which a group of African-American teenagers are falsely accused of a terrible crime, ultimately provoking a national outrage that laid the groundwork for the American Civil Rights movement."
"The Scottsboro Boys is about nine boys who are just trying to survive - to get a job, get back home, start a life. And, above all, prove to the world that they matter," said librettist David Thompson in a statement. Continued Susan Stroman: “A uniquely American story about an important chapter of American history, The Scottsboro Boys is a story that still has relevance today. So many of those issues are unresolved, and threaten to remain so unless we engage in a dialogue about them. I look forward to working at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Our hope is this production will be a way to get the conversation started, and to carry it forward.”
The Scottsboro Boys reunites the original creative team of set designer Beowulf Boritt, lighting designer Ken Billington, costume designer Toni-Leslie James and sound designer Peter Hylenski. PTC favorite Eric Ebbenga returns as music director.
Tickets starting at $25 are available by calling the PTC Box Office at (215) 985-0420 or by visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org. Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Suzanne Roberts Theatre is located at Broad and Lombard Streets.
