Scottsboro Boys at Vineyard Theater / Photo by Carol Rosegg
Regardless of where you land on the minstrel aspect of the show (and I found it breathtakingly daring, especially since the last Kander and Ebb show NYC saw was the painfully conventional Curtains), the power of the duo’s score—completed by composer John Kander after lyricist Fred Ebb’s death—cannot be denied.
What can be denied are the merits of David Thompson’s book, the sentiments of which clash with Kander and Ebb’s legendary cynicism. As the show trials commence, Thompson’s Scottsboro Nine indulge in self-pity and the occasional fisticuffs, acting like the most mediocre of falsely accused TV movie characters. And though director Susan Stroman has choreographed the hell out of the show, given that Beowulf Boritt’s set consists of little more than specially constructed chairs (one nightmare-as-dance evokes the old “Danse Macabre” Disney cartoon), she doesn’t emphasize enough the simmering antipathy of the Scottsboro boys for the white interlocutor, played by John McCullum. There are flashes of it, as they sneak their own commentary into the show, but it’s never fully fleshed out.
Of course, the entire run of the show at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre has sold out, so you’ll just have to wait for the inevitable Broadway transfer to judge for yourselves. But trust me when I say: If Thompson can rework his book to match Kander and Ebb’s hard-edged glare of a score, The Scottsboro Boys could be the most unsettling musical ever written.
Through April 18, Vineyard Theatre, 108 E. 15th St. (betw. Irving Pl. & Park Ave.), 212-353-0303; $70.
