Review: George C. Wolfe's SHUFFLE ALONG, An Exhilarating Demand For Recognition

"Enjoy the show!" Tony-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell chimes to the audience with a wave of his hand and a big sarcastic grin on his face. It's still early in the first act of SHUFFLE ALONG, OR, THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED and it's just been established that four men with egos to match their talent - two of them a singing/songwriting team and the other two a vaudeville comedy act - believe they can work together harmoniously to create a Broadway musical the likes of which has never been seen before. The fifth combination of ego and talent will be arriving shortly.

Enjoyment, or the invitation to sit back and relax, is rarely the main priority when obtaining a ticket to a George C. Wolfe enterprise. From his archly humored play THE COLORED MUSEUM, which first earned him major attention in 1986, to significant works such as JELLY'S LAST JAM (book/direction), both parts of ANGELS IN AMERICA (direction), BRING IN 'DA NOISE, BRING IN 'DA FUNK (direction), Michael John LaChiusa's THE WILD PARTY (direction/book-co-author), CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (direction) and THE NORMAL HEART (co-direction of Broadway premiere), George C. Wolfe has made a career out of being one of American theatre's great history teachers - particularly on the subject of the privileged not just denying rights, but basic human dignity and compassion, to the subjugated - skillfully directing discomforting mirrors into audience faces.

His exhilarating new musical details the history of the Broadway show that was indeed the sensation of 1921, and a completely unexpected one at that. SHUFFLE ALONG was created solely by black artists and served as the Broadway debuts for the stylish songwriting team of composer Eubie Blake (Brandon Victor Dixon), who conducted from the pit, and lyricist Noble Sissle (Joshua Henry), who played one of the lead roles. Bookwriters F.E. Miller (Mitchell) and Aubrey Lyles (Billy Porter), the show's lead comedians, were blackface vaudevillians who had last written and performed for Broadway over a decade earlier.

Aside from introducing jazz to white Broadway audiences, and the dances that came with it, SHUFFLE ALONG was noted for having a legitimate sincere love ballad, "Love Will Find A Way," sung by black performers; something so unheard of at the time that it certain parts of the country it could cause actors to be jailed... or worse.

Struggling for money on its way to New York, it was foolish to think that Broadway audiences would pay top dollar to venture all the way up to its theatre's 63rd Street location, but SHUFFLE ALONG wowed the critics and fascinated audiences. And yet, today it serves as a mere footnote in the history of American theatre and its best-known song, "I'm Just Wild About Harry," is mostly remembered for an Al Jolson recording promoting the presidential campaign of Harry S. Truman.

As was typical for the time, songs would pop in and out of SHUFFLE ALONG during the course of its run, since very little of the original score, which included selections like "Bandana Days" and "If You Haven't Been Vamped by a Brownskin, You Haven't Been Vamped at All," was integrated into its story about corrupt politicians trying to buy a mayoral election. There was even a second act segment where Blake came out from the pit and joined Sissle on stage for a mini-set of whatever they felt like singing. So Wolfe has been given a bit of flexibility in shaping a score to match his behind-the-scenes book that incorporates only a scant amount of the original's dialogue.

The quartet of creators (director Walter Brooks has not been scripted in) acts as narrators, with Mitchell's seasoned baritone occasionally describing the experience with Langston Hughes-type poetics. Choreographer Savion Glover does a sensational job of weaving a stageful of tap dancers throughout the narrative. This is the grounded style of rhythm tap, the movement of the Harlem Renaissance, and thrilling to watch and hear.

Audra McDonald exudes sunny elegance (and yes, she tap dances) as Lottie Gee, SHUFFLE ALONG's romantic lead who tries being the adult who tempers the squabbles among the writers while carrying on a romantic affair with the married Blake; a situation that results in an unwise career choice.

Adrienne Warren is dazzling playing two legendary performers of the era who got their starts in SHUFFLE ALONG. First she's the exuberant Gertrude Saunders, whose cutesy singing style would be popularized to the white mainstream by Helen Kane, the model for the iconic Betty Boop. When Saunders leaves the show, Warren immediately reenters as the shy Florence Mills who would grow into one of the great singing artists of her time.

The lightening-paced first act takes the audience from the initial idea to the triumphant opening night, but SHUFFLE ALONG, OR, THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED experiences some classic second act trouble when Sissle & Blake and Miller & Lyles end their partnership, with neither pair able to achieve the same sensational success. There's little plot left, save for a series of disappointments.

But that doesn't mean the second half is lacking in exciting moments. Billy Porter brings down the house with his solo of "Low Down Blues," though the song has little purpose except to give the Tony-winning star something to do besides shooting off wisecracks.

Brooks Ashmanskas, one of this century's funniest Broadway clowns plays all the white characters with frenetic comic chops. The late second act rouser is a sardonic "They Won't Remember You," where Ashmanskas, playing a character suggested by Carl Van Vechten, the writer who helped introduce white readers to who he considered to be the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance, teases the SHUFFLE ALONG creators with a prediction of their impending obscurity.

"Why wasn't SHUFFLE ALONG remembered?" is the insistent theme throughout the second act. The question is partially answered by Wolfe's examples of how white artists like George Gershwin and impresario Florenz Ziegfeld began appropriating black music and dance into their work. SHUFFLE ALONG was followed for decades by Broadway musical opportunities for black performers that came primarily from shows like SHOW BOAT, PORGY AND BESS and FINIAN'S RAINBOW; written, directed and produced by whites.

While George C. Wolfe's creation is certainly a celebration of a groundbreaking achievement, its theatrical greatness comes from its demand for recognition. "We were here and we will not be ignored," is the consistent subtext of SHUFFLE ALONG, OR, THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED. It may not be perfect, but damn, it's brilliant.