'Shuffle Along' Broadway review: This dream team cast dazzles
9 / 10
This proudly flashy, impressively ambitious show is the very last production to open in the 2015-16 Broadway season. Talk about finishing on a high note...The first act is a particularly fluid dramatization and distillation of a tremendous amount of historical information, presented through a series of razzle-dazzle, tap-heavy production numbers. As might be expected with a show trying to do so much, 'Shuffle Along' sometimes bites off more than it can chew. There are six major characters here...and keeping track of their assorted backstories and rivalries proves daunting. After the rousing first act, the second act seems to meander...And while Wolfe does a fine job conveying the social and cultural complexities of a work like 'Shuffle Along'...some of the essence of the source material is lost...But what a dream team Wolfe has assembled here, and what unadulterated joy they evince at being able to perform together.
