The Women of Shuffle Along Reflect on the Show’s Return to the Stage

George C. Wolfe's "Shuffle Along" returns in September for two performances at Lincoln Center. The original show opened on Broadway in 1921 and became the first major all-Black musical comedy hit, with music by Eubie Blake and lyrics by Noble Sissle. Wolfe's 2016 version, with a revised libretto and choreography by tap dancer Savion Glover, ran for only four months. Ten years after that abrupt closing, three women from the 2016 ensemble are coming back: Lisa LaTouche, Karissa Royster and Pamela Yasutake. The venue is steps from the former 63rd Street Music Hall, where the show premiered in 1921. The hall stood beside San Juan Hill, a Black and brown neighborhood that was razed partly to make way for the Lincoln Center campus. Royster points to a song in the show about how the original cast was forgotten. Yasutake says the political landscape has changed since 2016 and that people in New York now recognize a need for dramatic change. Royster, several months postpartum, says she returns ten years wiser. All three especially want Black youth to see Black history onstage. "We finally get to finish our assignment," LaTouche says.

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