My blackberry buzzed and I looked at the message, “Do you want to see a play about the Scottsboro boys?” I replied, “yeah.” Then the second message came in: “It’s a musical.” At that moment I wondered, who and why would someone make a musical out of tragedy of the railroading of nine Black men for the alleged rape of two White women in Alabama … after watching it I had more questions and even more anger.

The Scottsboro Boys musical is the last musical production of Kander & Ebb, the team that brought us Cabaret, Chicago and a host of others. But this is not your typical musical, it dances and sings the tale of the nine Black men being convicted for false allegations of rape in one of the greatest documented travesties of justice. The play chose to dance a thin line between tragedy, comedy, and satire. It seemed to fail at most of these. As if the history of the Scottsboro Boys wasn’t horrible enough, the decision to glamorize it may be an even more tragic occurrence.

As I sat in the nearly all White audience at the theater, the play opened with the nearly all Black cast flooding into the theater and inviting you to the minstrel show of the Scottsboro boys. That’s right, you get to learn the history of the Scottsboro boys via exaggerated caricatures, song and dance. Musical numbers ranged from songs about the electric chair to Jewish greed. Sitting there made me wonder, What exactly was the audience learning about this dark page in our history? Upon leaving the theater, two patron responses made it crystal clear. In one conversation, someone asked, “Do you know where I can get more on the story? Is it in the playbill?” His friend quickly responded, “No, I don’t think so,” and the patron responded, “Oh, okay. Oh well, at least it was entertaining.” Another audience member upon leaving said, “I just can’t stop tapping my toes.” Well, if oppression had a tune it was definitely the minstrel show, but after watching the Scottsboro Boys I’m sure I want them to stop playing the music!

TAGS: HISTORY, MUSICALS, New York, Review, The Scottsboro Boys Musical, THEATRE