Will SHUFFLE ALONG Be Considered a Revival or New Musical for the Tony Awards?

With the announcement of the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations, awards season has officially begun, and though many shows have already seen love, one has been noticeably excluded- Shuffle Along. And there is a reason...

The show's producers made requests to both organizations that it be considered for awards not this year, but in 2016-17. The show, which is still undergoing changes, would not be frozen in time for their nomination cutoffs.

Shuffle Along will be eligible for this season's Tony Awards, however. According to the New York Times, producer Scott Rudin is arguing for the show to be considered a revival, despite the fact that the show has a mostly new book.

Broadway producer Elizabeth I. McCann told NYT: "I've never known a case quite like this. The descriptions make it sound like a new musical, but that wouldn't make the producer very happy because he'd be up against 'Hamilton,' and that would be it."

Click here to read the full NYT article.

Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed is a new production that presents both the 1921 musical itself, and additionally details the events that catalyzed the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles, to create this groundbreaking work.

SHUFFLE ALONG has a new book and is directed by George C. Wolfe, choreographed by Savion Glover, and stars six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, Tony Award winners Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter, and Tony Award nominees Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry, heading a cast of 34. Opening night is Thursday, April 28 at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45 Street).

In May 1921, the new musical Shuffle Along became the unlikeliest of hits, significantly altering the face of the Broadway musical as well as that of New York City. By the time Shuffle Along stumbled into town after a back-breaking pre-Broadway tour, it was deeply in debt and set to open at a remote Broadway house on West 63rd Street. In a season full of spectacles, such as Sally - a Ziegfeld musical - and another edition of George White's Scandals, Shuffle Along's failure was almost a foregone conclusion. New York City was still in the throes of the Depression of 1920. And despite being celebrated vaudeville performers, Miller and Lyles and Sissle and Blake had never performed on Broadway, much less written a musical. But with an infectious jazz score and exuberant dancing, Shuffle Along ignited not just Broadway but all of New York City. George Gershwin, Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, Langston Hughes, and famed critic George Jean Nathan were among the many fans who repeatedly flocked to West 63rd Street to see a cast which - during its run of 504 performances - featured such incipient luminaries as Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Fredi Washington, and Adelaide Hall. Because of Shuffle Along, Uptown and Downtown met and became one.

The 2016 SHUFFLE ALONG brings the original show back to glorious life, while simultaneously telling the remarkable backstage story of both its historic creation and how it changed the world it left behind.

SHUFFLE ALONG Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed has music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by Daryl Waters, scenic design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Ann Roth, sound design by Scott Lehrer, and lighting design byJules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer. Shelton Becton is the Musical Director.