Shuffle Along previews

[brian1973]

Forgive me if this has been covered already, but is Audra scheduled to do all performances? 

 

Thanks

[Kad]

I thought this was a stunning piece of theatre, with one of the most thrilling first acts I've ever seen in a musical. The second act is messier but packs more of a punch. 

It ran about 2:40 tonight. 

[PalJoey]

I agree. The performances, led by Audra, are breathtaking, and Savion Glover's choreography--particularly in the train number--is magnificent.

[Kad]

Adrienne Warren, it must be mentioned, is giving a breakout performance.

[dramamama611]

brian1973 said: "Forgive me if this has been covered already, but is Audra scheduled to do all performances? 

 

Thanks

 

"

Yes she is, she does not have an alternate.

[Scarywarhol]

Wow, down nearly a full hour from when I saw the show. Can't wait to see the changes. 

[dramamama611]

Waiting to hear more details about changes please!  

[RogerMoore]

dramamama611 said: "Waiting to hear more details about changes please!  

Hi! I'm a longtime listener, first time caller, so to say. I saw the 3rd preview of Shuffle Along and was lucky enough to see it again last night (orch row G dead center for $40!). 

I took a non-theatre lover with me because I thought he'd love it and I was right. He was blown away.

 

To start, the original Playbill had a list of 'Musical Numbers' that was 2 full pages, the current one (which looks better 'in person', I must say) has no songs listed at all. 

There were probably a thousand minor changes over the last 2 weeks, but the most major was, sadly for the gifted actress who performed the role, the elimination of an entire character.

In the beginning of the show, we met this determined, but seemingly squeaky and talentless performer who almost forces her way into the show. By act 2, that actress was, literally, Josephine Baker (dancing, banana skirt and all). Josephine is gone entirely.

I won't spoil anything for anybody, but everything I loved (and I loved A LOT) from the first time I saw the show remains, and is made better by the trimming of the fat. I wouldn't change a damn thing about Act 1 at this point - it's thrilling. Act 2 has some parts that lag. 

Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Glover were in the last row of the orchestra furiously scribbling, so they're still at it!

Oh, and it's been pointed out that Billy Porter has a moment in Act 2 that's great, but doesn't feel 'deserved' by the character - I think that with the trimming, you do feel more invested in his story (simply because there's less 'other stuff' to be invested in).

And Audra is a brilliant comedian.


 

[Scarywarhol]

Josephine is a smart cut, but that's bittersweet. I woulda loved to see a smooth, finished run of her big number. Is the performer no longer in the production at all? She was very good. 

[Hellob]

Is that the character who gets fired in act 1 for complaining? 

[Kad]

Unfortunately, when the Baker track was cut, so was the actress. 

[RogerMoore]

Hellob said: "Is that the character who gets fired in act 1 for complaining? "

No, that character remains and that actress, Amber Iman, plays a couple different roles. Interestingly, when that character is fired for complaining in Act 1, the squeaky girl who becomes Josephine (Felicia Boswell), is the one who runs in and replaces her. Well, 'was' the one who 'ran' in and replaced her.

Thus, the song 'That Comedy Chorus Gal', where she transitions from Freda to Josephine is gone.

Felicia also played Eubie Blake's wife, Avis, a character who doesn't appear (and I don't think she appeared the first time I saw it either).

Felicia remains in the Playbill, but I don't know if she was in the ensemble last night or not. 

Also, very sadly, a great piece that was mentioned on this thread where there is some awesome tap happening on a small set of steps has been cut. 

[QueenAlice]

Happy to hear about all the changes. I can't wait to see this Monday night!  I suspect the number for Billy Porter in Act 2 may simply be there to give that name actor a personal spotlight, and I doubt they will do anything about it. But if it doesn't further the story-telling, I wonder if they will at some point consider cutting it for future  stagings.

[Kad]

Of the three major character solos in the second act, I thought it was really Mitchell's that was the least effective- largely because he is in half black face and that is not at all utilized in the song. The usage of blackface could be removed with no difference to the number. It is set up to be a sort of manic, acidic comedy song- sort of like "Buddy's Blues"- and never makes good on it. 

[QueenAlice]

So, Kad to my point - -do you think some of these numbers are there just to give these over the title actors something to do? 

[Kad]

No. 

I think the major issue with the second act is that it suddenly takes an interest in character development that it only scarcely sets up in the first half. 

But the show's central focus for much of runtime isn't really on Lottie, Aubrey, F.E., Eubie, or Noble. It's on Shuffle Along, the musical they worked on. 

But after the show is a success, where do you go? The second act is at its best when it's exploring the effects of Shuffle Along on the world- the Gershwin interlude, the song about its unfavorable legacy. But that's not enough to build a second act on, so the focus turns to the central characters, who don't have a lot in the way of development but now are treated as if they did.

[Scarywarhol]

Kad, interesting, I thought Mitchell's solo was one of the most effective moments of the production. Trying to get through the number without his partner in an almost furious mania, stuck in a dated routine in a half-dead form. He can't go back but he's unable to move forward, and I think this is the reason for the half blackface as well. 

[RogerMoore]

That entire sequence seems an homage to the Loveland sequence in Follies - Mitchell's song being Buddy's Blues and Audra's being reminiscent of Lisibg My Mind.

 

As for the 1/2 blackface, it was seemingly put on in a rush and then I thought when Mitchell would have to switch sides and okay Aubrey, it was effective bc Aubrey's darker complexion figured into the tension between them.

[sing_dance_love]

Great observations, Kad.

 

Aw, I'm sad to hear about the moment with the steps, my friend and I couldn't stop talking about it after. I believe it was during "You got to git the gitting, while the gittin's good". Was that number removed entirely?

 

At the first preview there definitely was a number late in the second act where we did meet the two wives, played by Amber Iman and Felicia Boswell. "Musical Selections With Sissle and Blake" according to my playbill. Is that totally gone too?

 

Sad to hear an entire track was cut, but the energy in the room very noticeably dipped during the whole Josephine section, it was a pretty obvious cut, or major rework if there was time. 

 

Thanks for the reports everyone! 

 

 

[QueenAlice]

So I guess this is a really radical question. Does the show even need its second act? Everyone is saying the first act is brilliant -- should they just call it a night at intermission?

[sing_dance_love]

Well then they'd probably need to remove that "...and all that followed" subtitle.

[Kad]

Scarywarhol said: "Kad, interesting, I thought Mitchell's solo was one of the most effective moments of the production. Trying to get through the number without his partner in an almost furious mania, stuck in a dated routine in a half-dead form. He can't go back but he's unable to move forward, and I think this is the reason for the half blackface as well. "

I totally got the intent of the song- it just didn't come together effectively for me. It wasn't as manic, as desperate, as self-loathing as it needed to be. 

 

[Scarywarhol]

PalJoey, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the material itself if you aren't holding off due to seeing a preview.

 

Question for those who saw it recently: Did you get a decent idea of what Shuffle Along (the original) was, especially in terms of plot? This was a big issue for me. Mitchell has a big monologue at the end reading a lot of significance into the show, which would have felt a lot more earned to me if I had been shown more of what the show was beforehand. Or even told. 

[Kad]

QueenAlice said: "So I guess this is a really radical question. Does the show even need its second act? Everyone is saying the first act is brilliant -- should they just call it a night at intermission?"

sing_dance_love beat me to the succinct response here. 

But, no. The second act, for all its messiness, is still good. It's not nearly perfect and will most likely never be able to be perfect. But the second act contains the thematic heft. It contains the scathing social commentary. It is arguably the point of the show. 

The first act is a joyful, thrilling explosion of black artistry. 

The second act is the world stripping it away. 

[Smaxie]

The show exists because of its second act.  It is angrier and sadder than the ebullience of Act 1. I think that’s where most of the point of the whole show is located.  George Wolfe is asking: how does a show like Shuffle Along go from being an innovation, the talk of the town, to a footnote or forgotten altogether? How do you protect your cultural heritage, but at the same time, who does it belong to when you put it out there in the world, when it is no longer a minority art form, but appropriated by American culture? And isn’t it the nature of the theatre itself, that it is by definition, ephemeral?  It is not a film or a TV show that can last forever. It’s created, it lives, and one day, it’s gone. Add into it the various personal stories, of the Lottie-Eubie relationship, the fraught Aubrey-F.E. partnership, the rivalry that develops between the two writing teams and the break-up of Sissle & Blake, and it's a very rich, very necessary Act 2.  

I think there are amazing moments in Act 2: it has a stunning opening tap for the ensemble and Audra's cabaret performance of the title song, the delightful success medley for the four authors, Audra and Adrienne's number as Lottie trains Florence Mills (including Lottie watching on as Florence soon surpasses her mentor in fame and opportunity), the tap challenge between the rival shows, the William Grant Still/George Gershwin number, and three strong solos for Billy, Stokes and Audra.  Also, Adrienne Warren's wordless elegy late in the show is supremely haunting. I imagine over the next four weeks, Act 2 is going to get streamlined to flow as well as Act 1 appears to be playing now.  But the ingredients are all there.  

[QueenAlice]

Got it -- maybe they just haven't yet fine tuned artistically what they are trying to succinctly say about the social impact "Shuffle Along" had.  I find 'messiness' often comes because the author is trying to say 'too many" things.