“Shuffle Along is jazzy, tuneful, full of pep,” says one of the rave reviews from 1921 printed on the curtain during intermission at the Music Box Theater, where George C. Wolfe has mounted a revival of the all-black musical that deserves far more exuberant praise than “full of pep”: It is cataclysmically entertaining.
That, however, refers to the musical numbers. The full title of the show is the (tellingly) awkward “Shuffle Along Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,”….Wolfe’s ambition to tell the story behind the 1921 musical…quickly starts feeling as if he were a PhD student defending his thesis about the significance of this “sadly neglected” musical

Full review on D C Theatre Scene

Click on any photograph by Julieta Cervantes to see it enlarged.

Brandon Victor Dixon and Audra McDonald in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Joshua Henry, Brandon Victor Dixon, Billy Porter and Brian Stokes Mitchell, with Richard Riaz Yoder in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Joshua Henry and Brandon Victor Dixon in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Billy Porter in Shuffle Along,

Brian Stokes Mitchell, with Adrienne Warren (fourth from left), Billy Porter, Audra McDonald and ensemble in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Brian Stokes Mitchell

Audra McDonald as Lottie Gee and Curtis Holland as Li’l Baby C in Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Audra McDonald in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Adrienne Warren and Audra McDonald in Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Brandon Victor Dixon and Audra McDonald and ensemble

Brandon Victor Dixon as Eubie Blake and Joshua Henry as Noble Sissle in Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,

Audra McDonald

The ensemble performs “Broadway Blues” in Shuffle Along,

The Ensemble performing “Bandana Days” in Shuffle Along

Adrienne Warren and company perform “I’m Just Wild About Harry” in Shuffle Along,