The Scottsboro Boys premiered on Broadway in 2010 for a run of only two months and received twelve Tony Award nominations, but failed to win any. How was this possible, I wondered? How could a show that lasted a mere 49 performances receive so many nominations? After attending the performance at the SpeakEasy Stage Company, our class had a discussion about the musical. Among the foremost things examined was the racial tension present in the show brought forth by the minstrel themes. From there, I read an abundance of theater reviews on the show and discovered it wasn’t merely the fact that the musical wasn’t “entertaining” that led the musical to close on Broadway, but that the structure of the play as a minstrel show and the use of blackface caused an abundance of discomfort and anger towards the musical and its writers.
I then realized I wanted to take the methods of Brecht, a German playwright, and apply them to this show to analyze the play as a Brechtian work. In doing so, I give light to the fact that The Scottsboro Boys is a piece of satire to comment on historical racism; Kander and Ebb’s use of minstrelsy is designed so that the audience is challenged to formulate a critical response not only on the events of the Scottsboro Trials, but also on an entire time period in American history. This paper is a way for me to help myself and others by explaining how this entertaining, upbeat, and shocking show represents the oppression and dehumanization present at a dark time in America. Although the show applies the racist form of minstrelsy, Kander and Ebb scrutinize the medium of theater itself through the use of satire. While the show may not have been performed for long, the actors, book, and music combine to create an impactful piece of theater through Brechtian methods.
JAMES ROBSON is a rising sophomore who is majoring in Biomedical Engineering and intends on pursuing a minor in Music Performance. From a small town north of Boston, he has a passion for both the arts and sciences; while he studies engineering, he works as a musician and actor in the greater Boston area and hopes to continue bridging his interest in theater, music, and writing after his time at BU. He would like to partially dedicate the publication of this paper and thank his writing professor Anthony Wallace, who has encouraged his interests, passionately guided his writing, and offered a kind, helping hand throughout his first year at BU. He extends his sincerest thanks to his family, friends, and classmates for their guidance; their support was immensely helpful throughout the writing process.