"Their Shuffle Along, about love and fraud in a fictional Dixieland, was the most successful early Broadway musical by an all-Black creative team, with an all-Black company and an all-Black orchestra. A publicity photo showing a group of women in large hats. The lighthearted romp earned $9 million more than $160 million today. It kick-started the careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills and Adelaide Hall."
"Many people think of the rise of Black musicals as a recent phenomenon. A collage of recent stage productions including Hamilton, Dreamgirls, The Lion King and the 2016 Shuffle Along. In the 2016 show Shuffle Along, subtitled The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, the playwright and director George C. Wolfe argued A picture of the cast of Shuffle Along. that Black musical theater began on Broadway almost a century earlier."
In 1920 the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake met the comedy team of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles at a benefit for the N.A.A.C.P. Their Shuffle Along, about love and fraud in a fictional Dixieland, became the most successful early Broadway musical by an all-Black creative team, with an all-Black company and orchestra. The lighthearted romp earned $9 million (more than $160 million today) and kick-started careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills and Adelaide Hall. The hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry" later became Harry S. Truman’s presidential theme. Black musical theater roots extend roughly another hundred years earlier, represented by venues like the African Grove and by more than 270 items showcased in the Syncopated Stages exhibition.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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