Read some reviews of "The Scottsboro Boys," which opened on Broadway Sunday night. It's a pretty diverse lot. Terry Teachout pukes on his shoes in the Wall Street Journal while Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune generally admired the work. Charles Isherwood was mixed in the N.Y. Times, while Charles McNulty whined in the L.A. Times that Broadway was the wrong location for a musical so adamantly intended to make one feel uncomfortable.
Most the reviews note that the show was constructed with the knowing purpose to shock mostly white audience with offensive images. It is not built to charm and create sympathy. It is meant to indict and arouse. In this respect, I felt Jones seemed to state the case best:
"This is a thematically uncompromising and initially alienating piece that seems (seems) unlikely to pack the populist punch of the big titles."
Director Susan Stroman comes off like a hero -- which she is for a stunning piece of stagecraft.
Broadway World.com has the best compendium of the notices.
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