About Us

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, playing at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, is a new musical about racial injustice in the wake of a crime. With music and lyrics by the esteemed Kander and Ebb (of Cabaret and Chicago), the production should be praised for its talented cast and brave direction; yet with such bold shows on the Great White Way right now (such as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), it just misses the mark.

The show follows the true story of the Scottsboro Boys trial, where nine African American boys from Alabama were convicted of a rape crime which they did not commit. Adding to the complexity of the already difficult subject matter, the show is performed in the style of a minstrel show – one that will this time strive to tell the truth.

The minstrel show is a tradition dating back to the early 19th century in which Caucasian performers parodied African Americans in a variety show style. Caucasians would ‘black-up’ – meaning they would put on blackface makeup – in order to play African Americans. The minstrel show style was not known as racist back then, but is now extremely controversial. When minstrel shows started, performers did not know any better than to draw stereotypical characters of African Americans, leading to untruthful, hurtful, and extremely racist portrayals.

What is so fascinating about The Scottsboro Boys, then, is the fact that they are using the minstrel show in order to tell the truth. How can you tell the truth with a form that was so very untruthful? The challenge for audiences then is to understand that the use of a blatantly racist (though dated) form is a comment on how African Americans were portrayed back in the early 1900s – since the story was of African Americans who were not given any true rights or justice, then the minstrel form – which also gives African Americans no justice – is the perfect structure for this musical.