A scene from the musical The Scottsboro Boys
Written by David Thompson, John Kander and Fred Ebb
Broadway's Lyceum Theatre
The notorious case of nine black youths who were arrested in Alabama in 1931, convicted of raping two white women and kept in jail for years, even as their numerous trials and appeals became a national civil rights cause célèbre, might seem the least likely material imaginable for a Broadway musical. And, to be sure, this show — the last from the songwriting team of John Kander and the late Freb Ebb (Caberet, Chicago) — tackles the subject mainly by distracting us from it, putting it inside an ironic frame and staging as a mock minstrel show. The device worked better in Chicago, the obvious model here, where the tabloid crime and media circus surrounding it lent themselves more easily to satire. Still, the surprise is how well The Scottsboro Boys turns a grim true-life story into a sprightly but soulful song-and-dance show without reducing it to trivia (as does this fall's other musical spoof of American history, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Susan Stroman (The Producers) has put together a talented cast that conveys the wrenching human drama while kicking up a storm in a series of jaunty, ragtime-flavored musical numbers. In the end, it's a show that leaves you disturbed, entertained and just a little bit prouder of Broadway.