The Scottsboro Boys Sets December 12 Closing Date

The Scottsboro Boys, the final collaboration between legendary Broadway composing team John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, has set a closing date for December 12 at the Lyceum Theatre. The show, which began previews on October 7 and opened on October 31, will have played 29 previews and 49 performances upon closing.

Directed by Susan Stroman and featuring a book by David Thompson, the musical is based on the notorious “Scottsboro” case in the 1930s, where nine African American men were unjustly accused of attacking two white women on a train in Alabama. The young men were convicted by an all-white jury and spent years in jail, while the case was tried and retried. The musical uses the bygone minstrel show performance style to tell the boys' story and recently came under attack from protestors who did not approve of the minstrel format.

The tuner first played off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre earlier this year before a revised pre-Broadway production was presented at the Guthrie Theatre in the summer. The off-Broadway production was honored with the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical during its inital run at the Vineyard.

“We’ve never believed more strongly and passionately in a show as we did with The Scottsboro Boys,” producers Barry and Fran Weissler and Jacki Barlia Florin said in a statement. “It’s a show we felt we had to produce and we’re proud and grateful to have brought this last great musical from Kander & Ebb to Broadway. We encourage anyone who loves challenging, provocative and original new musicals to see us in our final two weeks at the Lyceum.”

The cast features Tony winner John Cullum as the Interlocutor, Joshua Henry as Haywood Patterson, Colman Domingo as Mr. Bones, Forrest McClendon as Mr. Tambo, Sharon Washington as the Lady, Josh Breckenridge as Olen Montgomery, Derrick Cobey as Andy Wright, Jeremy Gumbs as Eugene Williams, Rodney Hicks as Clarence Norris, Kendrick Jones as Willie Roberson, James T. Lane as Ozie Powell, Julius Thomas III as Roy Wright and Christian Dante White as Charles Weems.