News
Fall theater preview: Musicals are poised to score big
September 23, 2010The ambitiousness and promise of this autumn's crop extends beyond musicality, though. Andrew Jackson and Scottsboro drew praise downtown and at regional theaters for making history's lessons fresh and topical. The latter was inspired by the racially charged trials of a group of young black men accused of rape in the 1930s. "I think audiences responded to our intensity of purpose," says Kander. "During bad times, theater and musicals in particular tackle issues. You get more cutting-edge stuff."
Top 10 Shows for Fall 2010
September 22, 2010The Scottsboro Boys brings together several traditional Broadway names to tell an untraditional Broadway story. John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago) had been working on this musicalization of nine black teenagers falsely accused of rape in 1931 when Ebb died in 2007. Kander completed the work and, with the help of director/choreographer, Susan Stroman (The Producers, Contact), brought it to the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway last spring. After a summer of retooling out of town, it's coming to Broadway and while the story may be unexpected, the excitement of a new Susan Stroman outweighs any doubts.
FIRST LOOK: STROMAN, KANDER & THOMPSON INTRODUCE "THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS!"
August 17, 2010Watch a video of the first Scottsboro company meet-and-greet in New York City last month.
"Scottsboro Boys" gets a Guthrie tune-up
August 5, 2010Producer Barry Weissler remembers that it was cold in 2005 when he launched a show in Minneapolis. Perhaps icy critical reaction to Sweet Charity colored his memory, because it was 40 degrees that balmy February when the revival opened at the Orpheum Theatre. Charity's travails were legend, but Weissler knows that success on Broadway demands that you shrug off failure's chill and get back into the heat of pursuit.
Fine tuner fine-tunes a
show for the ages
August 3, 2010
Musicals always take a long time to come together, but The Scottsboro Boys, which opens at the Guthrie Theater this week, may be a record. You could argue the idea started 70 years ago at a summer camp in Superior, Wis.
Kander & Ebb's "Scottsboro Boys" Begins Minneapolis Run Prior to Broadway
July 31, 2010The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis welcomes the new Broadway-bound musical The Scottsboro Boys starting July 31. The tale of an infamous case of American injustice has songs by Broadway masters John Kander and Fred Ebb, who tell the true story in an archaic but highly theatrical form - the minstrel show.
"Scottsboro Boys" gets a Guthrie tune-up
July 30, 2010After a New York tryout earlier this year, the show comes to town for a pre-Broadway run.
John Cullum Will Be Part of Broadway's "Scottsboro Boys"
July 28, 2010Two-time Tony® Award winner John Cullum will re-create the role of The Interlocutor when Kander and Ebb's Scottsboro Boys arrives on Broadway this fall. Cullum created that part in the world premiere Off-Broadway production earlier this year at the Vineyard Theatre.
Joshua Henry Joins Broadway's "Scottsboro Boys"
July 8, 2010Joshua Henry, who created the "Favorite Son" military hero in Broadway's American Idiot, will star as one of the central figures in Broadway's The Scottsboro Boys this fall.
Kander & Ebb Will Return to Broadway Oct. 7 With First Preview of "Scottsboro"
May 20, 2010The producers of the new Kander & Ebb musical, The Scottsboro Boys, announced Halloween, Oct. 31, as the show's Broadway opening date at the Lyceum Theatre. Previews begin Oct. 7.
