The Scottsboro Boys (musical)

The Scottsboro Boys
Broadway playbill
MusicJohn Kander
LyricsFred Ebb
BookDavid Thompson
BasisThe Scottsboro Boys Trial
Productions2010 Off-Broadway
2010 Minneapolis
2010 Broadway
2013 Off-West End, London
2014 West End
2018 Arlington, Virginia
AwardsOuter Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical,
Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical,
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics

The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death. The musical has the framework of a minstrel show, altered to "create a musical social critique" with a company that, except for one, consists "entirely of African-American performers".[1]

The musical debuted Off-Broadway and then moved to Broadway in 2010 for a run of only two months. It received twelve Tony Award nominations, but failed to win any.[2] The previous record for nominations without a win was eleven, held by Steel Pier and the original production of Chicago, both also by Kander and Ebb. The musical's twelve nominations were second only to The Book of Mormon, which garnered fourteen nominations that year.[2] Nevertheless, The Scottsboro Boys played in US regional theatres in 2012 and moved to London in 2013, where, after a sell-out production at the Young Vic, it moved to the West End in 2014.

  1. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Kander & Ebb's 'Scottsboro Boys' Will Get a Cast Album", playbill.com, April 23, 2010
  2. ^ a b D'Arminio, Aubry (2011-05-06). "The Tony nominees react: How they partied with ribs, Louis CK, and an F-word cake". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-05-28.