As a prelude to the “REACTIVATING MEMORY: A Shuffle Along and Tulsa Race Massacre” symposium, members of the cast and creative team of the 2016 Broadway metamusical Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, will reunite for a virtual 90-minute event. This event is part of a Princeton Humanities Council Magic Project.
The original Shuffle Along — created by an all-Black creative team— was a hit that transformed the popular stage as it introduced a syncopated jazz score and tapping chorus girls for the first time on Broadway. Despite its fame at the time, the impact of Shuffle Along on contemporary musical theater has been largely forgotten beyond musical theater and Harlem renaissance scholars.
Nearly a century later, the production of Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, which documented the original musical’s struggles and triumph, debuted on the Great White Way. The musical was written and directed by Tony Award-winner George C. Wolfe, choreographed by Savion Glover, boasted a cast of African American musical theater luminaries and played to full houses, and yet, it closed barely three months into its run. Host and 2021-23 Princeton Arts Fellow Michael J. Love will facilitate a discussion with the panelists about the choreography, song selection, singing style and personal impact and political implication of the show’s abrupt closing.
Join the Event
The conversation is free and open to the public and will take place via Zoom Webinar; registration required.
Register for the Shuffle Along Reunion
Accessibility
The reunion panel will include live closed captions in English. Patrons can connect to the captioned event through StreamText. Reference these instructions for using StreamText (PDF).
Attendees in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least two weeks in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu.
Multimedia collage © 2021 Crystal Z Campbell
This is a Princeton Humanities Council Magic Project funded through a David A. Garner ’69 Magic Grant and presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts. A signature program of the Humanities Council, a Magic Project is a deliberate intervention designed to create new collaborations and to be an intentional shaping force in the landscape of the humanities at Princeton.
