Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016)
Choreography by Savion Glover
This is George C. Wolfe's 2016 Broadway musical about the making of the 1921 revue Shuffle Along, the show that is generally credited as the first African American-written and -performed hit on Broadway. Wolfe's book, set to the Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle score, follows Blake, Sissle, and their partners Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles as they scrape together the original production, tour it on a shoestring, and watch it become an unlikely smash despite a hostile Depression-era Broadway season.
What is danced
The article does not supply a numbered musical-numbers list or a scene-by-scene synopsis of the choreography, so no set pieces can be named or located within the show from this source. What it does establish is that dance was central to the production's identity and critical reception: reviewers singled out Savion Glover's choreography as constant and physically forceful (Terry Teachout called it 'near-nonstop' and said it 'explodes off the stage with the unrelenting impact of a flamethrower'), and Ben Brantley likewise credited the show's 'sweeping grace' to its singing and dancing rather than its book. Beyond that praise, the article gives no description of specific steps, holds, or technique, so no movement vocabulary can be verified from it.
Context
The musical is a period piece about a landmark moment in American theatrical dance and jazz history: the 1921 Shuffle Along is described as helping to 'unite the white Broadway and black jazz communities' and launching the careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Adelaide Hall. The 2016 production restaged that history at a moment (the year of Hamilton) when Broadway was newly attentive to shows built around Black creative teams and Black vernacular performance traditions, and it reunited director Wolfe with choreographer Savion Glover two decades after their earlier collaboration, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk.
Staging history
The production had two workshops in fall 2015 and no out-of-town tryout before beginning Broadway previews on March 15, 2016, and opening April 28, 2016 at the Music Box Theatre. It closed on July 24, 2016, after 38 previews and 100 regular performances, when Audra McDonald's pregnancy led producers to end the run rather than replace her, since the show was already running at a loss. The article gives no account of any revival or subsequent production beyond this original Broadway run.
How to watch it
Reviewers frame the choreography as near-continuous rather than confined to isolated numbers, so attention should go to how movement carries scenes that the book otherwise handles as exposition — Brantley notes the show's 'sweeping grace' surfaces specifically 'whenever it sings or dances.' Watching for the contrast reviewers describe, between a first act praised as thrilling and a second half several critics found to go flat, is also a useful frame the article itself supports.