This is the second brilliant musical dealing with past American racism to open in the West End this autumn and London is enriched as a result. Not just because of the issues raised but because MEMPHIS and now SCOTTSBORO BOYS are examples of how skilled writers, creatives and actors are proving beyond a doubt that great musical theatre can be intelligent, original and provocative yet also be very, very entertaining.SCOTTSBORO BOYS is by the celebrated writing team of John Kander and Fred Eb. (Book by David Thompson) Over the past 40 years Kander and Eb have given us a number of musical theatre masterpieces which contrast jolly period influenced music with horrible situations; most notably the rise of the Nazis in CABARET, death row in CHICAGO, Argentinian injustice in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and the 1930s depression in STEEL PEIR. This latest piece to hit London uses exactly that formula to tell the story of a group of itinerant black men framed for a rape in Alabama in 1931, using a pastiche of catchy minstrel show music.
SCOTTSBORO BOYS is an example of how skilled writers, creatives and actors are proving beyond a doubt that great musical theatre can be intelligent, original and provocative yet also be very, very entertaining.
Minstrel shows were an entertainment in which white performers, with blacked up faces, reassured their peers with a representation of black men that was both hideous (the make-up) and immoral (presenting a sanitised and comforting version of the afro-American experience for white people) In this musical that’s reversed and black actors play reassuringly ugly versions of white people, some who deserve our contempt and some who don’t.
All the Caucasians are played as exaggerated caricatures whilst the accused are presented realistically, outside of the song and dance numbers. You are never, at any point, invited to sympathise with any of the white characters. Even the girl who bravely stood in court to publicly withdraw her accusation of rape and the attorney who risked everything to defend the accused are presented as grotesques.
You’re more likely to shed a tear when you read the tragic, detailed information about the characters in the programme.
No one can convince me that the two dimensional characters and generic individual songs in the show are anything like as vivid as those in CHICAGO and CABARET. None the less this musical still packs a considerable punch. This is in part because of the stark staging, just chairs and coloured light; borrowing the techniques of impoverished theatre for Broadway in a way that always thrills audiences used to commercial high-production values.
The other reason it’s so powerful is it taps into the white liberal guilt of most of the audience, the writers and the creative team. If a show can shame you with the story of your racist ancestors, plus leave you feeling comforted that you’ve recognised their failings through attending a show, then it’s going to leave a pretty strong impression.
Interestingly though the creators never allow any of the individual victims enough stage time to engage us beyond a general shock and revulsion at the entire situation. Although we’re sorry for the boys (very, very sorry) the team could have manipulated us to tears and emotional devastation. Instead we’re kept at arms length allowing us to understand how such an atrocity occurred and giving us an even greater release at the end when we rise to our feet showing the cast and ourselves that we’ve “got it” and appreciate their wonderful performances.
The current West End cast includes some extraordinary American actors reprising the roles they created in New York. Colman Domingo and Forest McClendon, who play the minstrel comedians parodying the white villains, Brandon Victor Dixon who plays Haywood Patterson (the closest thing the show offers to a conventional hero) and James T Lane who plays the first woman to cry rape, set an incredibly high standard for the British cast members to meet. It’s a credit to those Brits and the casting director Jill Green who found them that they rise to the challenge so well that you can’t tell who’s new to the show and who’s a veteran.
This is a short, punchy, superbly performed and fascinating evening that will shock you, educate you and entertain you.
Directed by Susan Stroman, celebrated for staging the original production of THE PRODUCERS amongst many other things, this is a short, punchy, superbly performed and fascinating evening that will shock you, educate you and entertain you.
Don’t miss it and enjoy the pat on the back it offers you for being liberal enough to appreciate it.
This Broadway export of the Tony Award winning musical MEMPHIS to the West End, is very good news indeed for London theatregoers.