Following its run at the Young Vic, it won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical of 2013; it was also nominated for six Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, but failed to win any. The original Off-Broadway production at New York's Vineyard Theatre in 2010 also transferred to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre, after which it was nominated for 12 Tonys but failed to collect any.
Directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, the musical tells the true story of nine young black men, aged between 12 and 19, travelling on a train through Scottsboro, AL, in 1931 in search of a new life. By the end of their journey their lives had been changed forever. Wrongly accused of an unspeakable crime, their trial would divide a nation. But behind the screaming headlines was the devastating story of nine young men, desperate to prove to the world that they mattered.
Last year, the Scottsboro Boys Act was finally passed (on April 19, 2013) – a historic piece of legislation to posthumously exonerate the last eight of the nine boys, enacted an incredible 82 years later.
The Scottsboro Boys has music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, book by David Thompson and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. The production features set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Ken Billington, sound design by Paul Arditti and orchestration by Larry Hochman.
Casting is yet to be announced, but the company that originated the show at the Young Vic featured the Tony-nominated stars of the original 2010 Broadway production, Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon. Both nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, they respectively reprised their roles as Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo. The company also featured Broadway cast members Christian Dante White, reprising his role as Charles Weems, and Clinton Roane, a swing in the original production, who played Roy Wright. Also in the cast were British actors Julian Glover as the Interlocutor, Dawn Hope as the Lady, Adebayo Bolaji as Clarence Norris, Rohan Pinnock-Hamilton as Olen Montgomery, Carl Spencer as Andy Wright with Martin Bishop, Susan Reynolds and Jordan Shaw.
The Scottsboro Boys is a Catherine Schreiber, Paula Marie Black and Young Vic Production, presented in association with Michael and Gabrielle Palitz, Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W.Batman /David Asper, Probo Productions/Deborah Hicks Midanek/Bard Theatricals, Kathryn Phillips/Joe Black & Eric Canal-Forgues/Dominic Lindesay-Bethune.
To book tickets, which go on general sale April 30, contact the box office on 0844 412 4662, or visit www.ScottsboroMusicalLondon.com for more details.
