Defending ‘Scottsboro’
I write on the heels of Philadelphia Theatre Company’s wildly successful run of The Scottsboro Boys, the visionary and deeply moving musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb, David Thompson and Susan Stroman. We define success here not only in financial terms but as having achieved every aesthetic and organizational aspiration a theatre company can imagine for itself and its community. Our experience with this production perfectly embodied all of these ideals.
Coming off this galvanizing experience, I was both surprised and deflated to pick up the March issue of American Theatre and read Marshall Jones’s sensitive but limited take on The Scottsboro Boys (“The Last Minstrel Show?”), which focused almost exclusively on the minstrelsy aspect of the production. While I certainly have a great deal of respect for Mr. Jones and his right to decry the minstrel format, I need to make two points here.
First, The Scottsboro Boys is not a minstrel show. The creators have taken the minstrelsy idea and turned it upside down in a manner so drenched in irony that it ultimately empowers and ennobles the performers. In fact, from the moment you are greeted by Beowulf Boritt’s set with its tilted arches, the production signals that the story to follow will not be told in a straight-on manner. The performance style of the classic “minstrel” characters, Bones and Tambo, is one of actors “standing apart” from these stereotypes. Their winking essence and our mutual enjoyment of it creates an unspoken complicity between actor and audience. This very undercurrent subliminally reminds us of another kind of complicity at work: that of the political and societal forces which allowed the Scottsboro case to occur in the first place. Such is the sly, double-whammy brilliance of this musical.
My other point is that The Scottsboro Boys is one of the most significant American musicals of the decade and deserves fuller coverage than what AT allowed in the March issue. I cannot speak to how the production played in New York and Minneapolis or how it will play on the West Coast, but I can tell you that Philadelphia, with its diverse population and unique racial history, embraced it with enormous enthusiasm. PTC prepared for this production six months in advance, forging partnerships with organizations such as the Brothers’ Network, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, WURD talk radio, Saving Our Boys, the Anti-Defamation League, the ACLU and others. We constructed all manner of dialogue—formal and informal. The Scottsboro Boys provided an extraordinary opportunity for impassioned conversation about history, justice, race relations, the penal system, creativity and ownership of stories. Over a thousand students experienced unforgettable, teachable moments. In fact, we would have happily welcomed Mr. Jones here with open arms, offering to place him center stage to express his opinions.
In Philadelphia, The Scottsboro Boys enjoyed packed houses of all ethnicities, leaping to their feet in rousing, tearful approval. They well understood the creators’ intrinsic reverence for their subject. Let’s put The Scottsboro Boys legacy back on track and acknowledge the stunning achievement of its creators and their brilliant actors and collaborators. They have given our theatre community not only a great work of art but an invigorating opportunity to lead discussions on matters of pressing concern to all of us.
Sara Garonzik, producing artistic director
Philadelphia Theatre Company
Tweet Power
I read Eliza Bent’s “Tweet Seats? Really?!” (Feb ’12) as it was being shuttled through the Twitterverse—bravo! Well balanced and informative. I love the final statement from Alamo about their HeckleVision being communal! That’s the part so many people are missing about tweet-seat events—it’s not folks talking about what they had for dinner, but about the production with the actors and creators, in the moment. We could someday (sadly, perhaps) have a generation who may only attend theatre, ballet or symphony if it’s “more interactive”—if they don’t have to disconnect. I feel obligated to see if we can find a middle ground to bridge the “old” with the new. Many environments are no place for tweeting; but for certain other arts events, you just have to embrace it.
Elisa Hale, public relations manager
Goodspeed Musicals
East Haddam, Conn.
Havel and Burian
That was a lovely tribute to Václav Havel by Carol Rocamora in the Feb. ’12 issue. However, one point was not clear. Joseph Papp did not introduce The Memorandum in the U.S. The late Jarka M. Burian, author of many articles and books on Czech theatre and a professor at SUNY Albany, directed The Memorandum in December 1966. On Sept. 5, 1967, Havel wrote a letter to Burian thanking him for producing the play outside of Europe, and mentioning Papp was interested in producing it in the near future.
Grayce Susan Burian
(Mrs. Jarka M. Burian)
