Kander and Ebb's Scottsboro Boys Extended Off-Broadway

By Kenneth Jones
09 Mar 2010

Rodney Hicks, John Cullum and Brandon Victor Dixon
Rodney Hicks, John Cullum and Brandon Victor Dixon
Photo by Carol Rosegg

The world premiere of The Scottsboro Boys, the new musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and David Thompson, will play two extra weeks at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre, now to April 18.

Tony Award winner Susan Stroman directs and choreographs the fact-inspired show, about nine black teenagers accused of a crime against white women — a crime they didn't commit — in 1931 Alabama. The musical's framing device is the now-dead, but once-popular, minstrel show, in which white men wear blackface and offer scenes, jokes and songs in a display of grotesque stereotype. Except for John Cullum, The Scottsboro Boys company is made up entirely of African-Americans performers.

The extension dates go on sale March 9, the day before The Scottsboro Boys opens at the Vineyard (March 10). The intermissionless musical was previously scheduled to run through April 4.

The Scottsboro Boys has book by Thompson, and music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb (their credit is shared). Lyricist Ebb died in 2004. Librettist Thompson and Kander and Ebb previously collaborated on Flora, the Red Menace and Steel Pier.

The cast includes Sean Bradford, Josh Breckenridge, Derrick Cobey, John Cullum, Brandon Victor Dixon, Colman Domingo, Rodney Hicks, Kendrick Jones, Forrest McClendon, Julius Thomas III, Sharon Washington, Cody Ryan Wise and Christian Dante White.

According the Vineyard, "The Scottsboro Boys is a new musical that explores the infamous 1930s 'Scottsboro Case', in which a group of innocent African-American teenagers are falsely accused of a terrible crime — ultimately provoking a national outrage that sparked the American Civil Rights movement."

The Scottsboro Boys will perform Tuesdays at 7 PM, Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 3 PM and 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM.

Tickets are $70 and can be reserved anytime online at the Vineyard Theatre website at www.vineyardtheatre.org or by calling (212) 353-0303.