Every day is opening night.

More Redemption for the Scottsboro Boys

U.S. Press:
Rick Miramontez / Andy Snyder
rick@oandmco.com/ andy@oandmco.com
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
 

MORE REDEMPTION FOR

 “THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS”

IN LONDON

 

CATHERINE SCHREIBER, PAULA MARIE BLACK AND YOUNG VIC’S

WEST END PRODUCTION

OF KANDER AND EBB’S

AMERICAN MUSICAL

WINS 2014 EVENING STANDARD AWARD FOR

BEST MUSICAL

 

London (12/8/2014) – The Scottsboro Boys, directed by five-time Tony® Award winner Susan Stroman, and produced in London by Catherine Schreiber, Paula Marie Black and Young Vic, took home the Evening Standard’s 2014 Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical on November 30.  This honor comes on the heels of the production’s uniformly rave reviews when it opened in October in London’s West End at the Garrick Theatre. This production follows a raved-about, sold-out, extended UK premiere last year at the Young Vic where it won the 2013 Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and was nominated for six Oliviers including Best New Musical.
 

“It has been unspeakably gratifying to see this masterpiece of American musical theatre be so embraced across the pond,” said Tony winners Catherine Schreiber and Paula Marie Black, two American women making their West End debuts as lead producers on the critically acclaimed final collaboration of Kander and Ebb .“This honor belongs to them, Susan Stroman, David Thompson and to our remarkable company. This extraordinary musical, which has helped change history, continues to move audiences and inspire social justice around the world.  But most of all, this award honors the memory of Haywood Patterson, Clarence Norris, Charles Weems, Ozie Powell, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, Roy and Andy Wright, whose trials remain as tragically relevant today as they were in 1931.  Theirs is a story that must be told, and retold, so that people don’t forget, until the day the world is finally free of racial injustice.”

The Scottsboro Boys ends its successful 20 week run on February 21st, 2015.

Evening Standard Awards judge and columnist Baz Bambigboye wrote of the win: 

“How could a musical about racial intolerance, injustice and bigotry in America in the 1930s (problems still raising their ugly heads today) be entertaining? Easy, when the music and lyrics are by John Kander and the late Fred Ebb — and the staging by director Susan Stroman (originally in New York)….

 “It’s all-singing, all-dancing — and all-lying. Few tell the truth in The Scottsboro Boys but Kander and Ebb make it easy for the audience to discern what’s really going on — and the contrast between the sickening storyline and the irresistible, toe-tapping showtunes packs a mighty punch.

“An excellent company includes Brandon Victor Dixon, Colman Domingo and Julian Glover in his first musical after half a century in the theatre.

Here Lies Love, Sunny Afternoon and Dogfight deserve honourable mentions, too, because they all had something to sing about. But for sheer audacity and power, The Scottsboro Boys takes the cakewalk.”

The Scottsboro Boys brings to life the extraordinary true story of nine young black teenagers, aged 12 to 19, travelling on a train through Scottsboro, Alabama, 1931, in search of a new life. By the end of the journey, their lives would be changed forever. Wrongly accused of an unspeakable crime, these innocent teenagers endured years of trials that divided a nation and changed history.

When The Scottsboro Boys premiered on Broadway in 2010, it nabbed an incredible 12 Tony® Award nominations (including Best Musical and Best Director), but lackluster ticket sales forced produced to close the production before the Tony telecast. 
 

CRITICAL PRAISE FOR THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS IN LONDON

“Brave, brilliant and unmissable. I urge you to buy a ticket”

-Sam Marlowe, The Times of London (*****)

 

“Audacious. Elating and shocking. Finger-snapping. Toe-tapping. Tremendous”
Financial Times (*****)

“Extraordinary and unforgettable”
Metro (*****)
 

“Out of this world”
The Observer (*****)

“A dazzlingly executed piece of showbusiness panache.
One of the most thrillingly performed shows in town”
-Mark Shenton, The Stage (*****)

An absolute stunner – and completely unmissable”
London Theatre (*****)

“A genuinely radical musical.
A brilliant cast and electrifying choreography”
-Lyn Gardner, The Guardian (****)

 

“Kander and Ebb’s masterstroke.
This beautifully performed show remains a triumph”
Time Out London (****)

 

“This West End transfer of Kander and Ebb’s audacious musical is richly deserved.
The music is magnificent”
-Fiona Mountford, London Evening Standard (****)

“Rush to see this ingenious, pain-filled, feel-good show”
-Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph (****)

“The best musical that will be seen in the West End this year.
“Fierce, bold and relentlessly entertaining”
What’s On Stage (****)

“A musical like The Scottsboro Boys is worth a dozen Thrillers or Miss Saigons
Theatre Guide London

 

“The Scottsboro Boys hits the bull’s-eye”
British Theatre Guide

 

“Susan Stroman is some kind of genius.
Kander and Ebb’s last show together delivers a decisive sucker punch”
The Arts Desk

 

The cast of The Scottsboro Boys includes Joshua Da Costa, Brandon Victor Dixon, Colman Domingo, Julian Glover, Dawn Hope, Emmanuel Kojo, James T. Lane, Dex Lee, Forrest McClendon, Kennan Munn-Francis, Rohan Pinnock-Hamilton, Emile Ruddock, Carl Spencer, Richard Pitt, Jacade Simpson, Luke Wilson, Marcia Lecky, and Andrew McDonald.

 

The creative team for The Scottsboro Boys includes John Kander and Fred Ebb (Music and Lyrics), David Thompson (Book), Susan Stroman (Direction and Choreography), Beowulf Boritt (Set Design), Toni-Leslie James (Costume Design), Ken Billington (Lighting Design), and Paul Arditti (Sound Design).

 

The Scottsboro Boys is produced on the West End by Catherine Schreiber, Paula Marie Black, Young Vic, Bruno Wang, Michael and Gabrielle Palitz, Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman, David Asper, Jill Manson, Probo Prods., Dominic Lindesay-Bethune for Theatre6, Joe Black, Eric Canal-Forgues, Deborah Hicks Midanek, Kathryn Phillips, Bard Theatricals, Sharon Carr, Patricia R. Klausner, Kate Cannova, and Ashley M. Desmone

 

#  #  #  #

 

www.oandmco.com

www.twitter.com/oandmco

www.ScottboroMusicalLondon.com