Shuffle Along is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles.; and Tanner, Jo. "Shuffle Along: The Musical at the Center of the Harlem Renaissance" , ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center. Retrieved March 14, 2016. One of the most popular all-Black hit Broadway shows, it was a landmark in African-American musical theater, credited with inspiring the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.
The show premiered at the 63rd Street Music Hall in 1921, running for 504 performances, a remarkably successful span for that decade. It launched the careers of Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall,Williams, pp. 29–47 Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Paul Robeson, and was so popular it caused "curtain time traffic jams" on West 63rd Street.Kenrick, John, "History of The Musical Stage, 1920s Part III: Black Musicals" , musicals101.com. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
A 2016 adaptation, Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, focused on the challenges of mounting the original production as well as its lasting effects on Broadway and race relations.
Background The show's four writers were African-American Vaudeville veterans who first met in 1920 at an NAACP benefit held at the newly opened Dunbar Theatre in Philadelphia.Glass, pp. 176–179. None had ever written a musical, or even appeared on Broadway.Fuller, Sally Henry (February 7, 2016), "Stage Tube: Shuffle Along Songwriter Eubie Blake Sings Title Song on Original LP". , BroadwayWorld.com. Promoters were skeptical that a black-written and produced show would appeal to Broadway audiences. After finding a small source of funding, Shuffle Along toured New Jersey and Pennsylvania. However, with its limited budget, it was difficult to meet travel and production expenses. Cast members were rarely paid, and were "trapped out of town when the box-office receipts could not cover train fare".Wolfe 667 The budget was so low that cast members had to wear damaged and worn leftover costumes from other shows. For some time, the entire set could fit in one taxicab, and was transported between theaters by that means (Krasner 244). When the show returned to New York about a year later, during the recession of 1920–1921, the production owed $18,000 and faced strong competition on Broadway in a season that included Florenz Ziegfeld's Sally and a new edition of George White's Scandals. It was able to book only a remote theater on West 63rd Street with no orchestra pit.Zoglin, Richard. "Broadway Shuffle", Time magazine, May 23, 2016, pp. 42–45. In the end, however, the show earned $9 million from its original Broadway production and three touring companies, an unusual sum in its time.Maloney, Darby. "George C. Wolfe's Shuffle Along and the musical that 'electrified' 1920s New York" , The Frame, June 3, 2016.
Miller and Lyles wrote thin, jokey dialogue scenes to connect the songs: "The plot of ... Shuffle Along was mainly to allow an excuse for the singing and dancing." Miller and Lyles also wore blackface in Shuffle Along. In the 21st century, this may seem unfathomable and offensive; however, the "audiences understood" the "makeup" only "suggested a portrayal of broad comedic characters". The use of blackface was simply a starting point, not the finish line. Miller and Lyles used the context they were given to captivate and appeal to audiences; however, they maintained their voices rather than resorting to typically exaggerated blackface characterizations. For instance, "rather than entirely embrace the lingering vestiges of minstrelsy” the duo "found ways to alter the formula". Their act initially appeared to imitate traditional minstrelsy; however, the characters they created were clever, complex, and defied traditional stereotypes.
The plot of Shuffle Along was based on Miller's and Lyles's previous play, The Mayor of Dixie (Bordman 624), and in Shuffle Along, they incorporated "their well-beloved characters that they had been playing for years in vaudeville". Breaking with minstrel tradition, the principal characters wore tuxedos, conveying their dignity. In minstrel shows, characters in tuxedos and blackface typically played the “Zip Coon” type, a stock character which mocked black people who were free from slavery (Harold 75). Shuffle Along rejected this image by presenting its characters as community-oriented men seeking to run for mayor of their city. Furthermore, Miller believed "that the only way to put Negro performers into white theatres with any kind of dignity was through musical comedy".
The musical drew repeat audiences due to its jazzy music styles, a modern, edgy contrast to the mainstream song-and-dance styles audiences had seen on Broadway for two decades. The show's dancing and 16-girl chorus line were more reasons why the show was so successful.McBride, Walter. "Up on the Marquee: Shuffle Along" , BroadwayWorld, February 4, 2016 According to Time magazine, Shuffle Along was the first Broadway musical that prominently featured syncopated jazz music, and the first to feature a chorus of professional female dancers. It introduced musical hits such as "I'm Just Wild about Harry"; "Love Will Find a Way", the first African American romantic musical duet on a Broadway stage; and "In Honeysuckle Time". It launched or boosted the careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Adelaide Hall, and contributed to the desegregation of theaters in the 1920s, giving many black actors their first chance to appear on Broadway. Once it left New York, the show toured for three years and was, according to Barbara Glass, the first black musical to play in white theaters across the United States. Its appeal to audiences of all races, and to celebrities such as George Gershwin, Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, Langston Hughes and critic George Jean Nathan, helped unite the white Broadway and black jazz communities and improve race relations in America.Chary, EllaRose. "Black History Month – Innovative Musical Contributions: Eubie Blake" , Music Theatre International, February 27, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
Composer and lyricist duo Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake created the revolutionary music of Shuffle Along. They incorporated music and visual spectacle with the preexisting narrative to create a unique show. While stereotypes were indeed present, Sissle and Blake worked "within a parallel performance form" replacing "the negative stereotypes… with a vastly more positive image." The musical score was also used to create an exceptional show. Eubie Blake's score was a way to demonstrate his "command of every important genre of contemporary commercial" music without disguising "his individuality or race." His genius used classical musical styles to complement the uniqueness of African-American music, creating a distinctly novel sound. In addition to presenting refined subject matter, the music of Shuffle Along expressed the African-American masteries of music and performance.
Plot Two dishonest partners in a grocery store, Sam Peck and Steve Jenkins, both run for mayor in Jimtown, USA. They agree that if either wins, he will appoint the other his chief of police. Steve wins with the help of a crooked campaign manager. He keeps his promise and appoints Sam chief of police, but they begin to disagree on petty matters. They resolve their differences in a long, comic fight. As they fight, their opponent for the mayoral position, virtuous Harry Walton, vows to end their corrupt regime ("I'm Just Wild about Harry"). Harry gets the people behind him and wins the next election, as well as the lovely Jessie, and runs Sam and Steve out of town
Songs
Act I "Election Day" - Chorus "I'm Simply Full of Jazz" - Ruth Little and Syncopation Steppers "Love Will Find a Way" - Jessie Williams and Harry Walton "Bandana Days" - Alderman and Company "Sing Me to Sleep, Dear Mammy" - Harry Walton and Board of Aldermen "(In) Honeysuckle Time (When Emmaline Said She'd Be Mine)" - Tom Sharper "Gypsy Blues" - Jessie Williams, Ruth Little and Harry Walton
Act II "Shuffle Along" - Jimtown Pedestrians and Traffic Cop "I'm Just Wild About Harry" - Jessie Williams and Jimtown Sunflowers "Syncopation Stenos" - Mayor's Staff "Good Night Angeline" - Board of Aldermen "If You Haven't Been Vamped by a Brownskin, You Haven't Been Vamped at All" - Steve Jenkins, Sam Peck and Jimtown Vamps "Uncle Tom and Old Black Joe" - Uncle Tom and Old Black Joe "Everything Reminds Me of You" - Jessie Williams and Harry Walton "Oriental Blues" - Tom Sharper and Oriental Girls "I Am Craving for That Kind of Love"/ "Daddy (Won't You Please Come Home)" - Ruth Little "Baltimore Buzz" - Tom Sharper and Jimtown's Jazz Steppers "African Dip" - Steve Jenkins and Sam Peck
Original production
The show premiered on Broadway at the 63rd Street Music Hall on May 23, 1921, and closed on July 15, 1922, after 504 performances. Directed by Walter Brooks, with Eubie Blake playing the piano, the cast included Lottie Gee as Jessie Williams, Adelaide Hall as Jazz Jasmine, Gertrude Saunders as Ruth Little, Roger Matthews as Harry Walton, and Noble Sissle as Tom Sharper. Saunders was later replaced by Florence Mills. Josephine Baker, who was deemed too young at the age of 15 to be in the show, joined the touring company in Boston, and then joined the Broadway cast when she turned 16.Hill, p. 132. Bessie Allison's first professional performance was in Shuffle Along.Smith, vol. 2, pp. 73–75. The orchestra included William Grant Still and Hall Johnson.Wintz, pp. 7–8. The musical toured successfully throughout the country up to 1924.
The show was made up of an entirely African American cast and creative team and ran for, “504 performances, generated multiple traveling companies, and sparked the careers of several acclaimed performers” such as Florence Mills and Josephine Baker.Das, Dance Research Journal 51.3 (2019): 84–96.
Historical effect and response The show was "the first major production in more than a decade to be produced, written and performed entirely by African Americans." According to the Harlem chronicler James Weldon Johnson, Shuffle Along marked a breakthrough for the African-American musical performer and "legitimized the African-American musical, proving to producers and managers that audiences would pay to see African-American talent on Broadway."Tanner, Jo. "Shuffle Along: The Musical at the Center of the Harlem Renaissance" , ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center. Retrieved May 18, 2016. Black audiences at Shuffle Along sat in orchestra seats rather than being relegated to the balcony.Reside, Doug. "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along" , New York Public Library, February 10, 2012. It was the first Broadway musical to feature a sophisticated African-American love story, rather than a frivolous comic one.Taylor, Erica. "Little Known Black History Fact: Shuffle Along" , BlackAmericaWeb.com, January 31, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
According to theatre historian John Kenrick, "Judged by contemporary standards, much of Shuffle Along would seem offensive ... most of the comedy relied on old minstrel show stereotypes. Each of the leading male characters was out to swindle the other." Nevertheless, the African-American community embraced the show, and performers recognized the importance of the show's success to their careers. "Shuffle Along was one of the first shows to provide the right mixture of primitivism and satire, enticement and respectability, blackface humor and romance, to satisfy its customers".Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927, Palgrave MacMillan, 2002, pp. 263–67.