abstract:The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death.
Last season, two warmly received shows from smaller New York theaters "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and "The Scottsboro Boys" floundered when they moved to Broadway.
Given the racial climate of the times, an era of lynchings and horrors such as theScottsboroBoys' trial, Woodruff's images must be read as aspiring to an ideal future.