SCOTTSBORO BOYS @ Beck Center (Baldwin Wallace/Beck co-production)

February 7-23, 2020

216-521-2540
 or http://www.beckcenter.org

Roy Berko

“THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS” is a powerful piece of historical theatre whose message must be heard, especially in these days of the continuance and rise of racial and religious prejudice.  The Beck Center/Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program production itself was inconsistent in its overall effect, but is still a staging worth seeing. 

To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Kerry Clawson

Beck Center for the Arts and Baldwin Wallace have joined forces for a bold and devastating show, “The Scottsboro Boys,” in the Ohio premiere of this stark, historically-based musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

To see a full review of this show, read Kerry Clawson's review here.

Mark Horning

You can bill this show as an intense historic drama played out through the most nocuous manner possible (i.e. a Minstrel Show) that illustrates the truths and pathos far better than any other manner could. It is a show that will leave you angry about racial inequality but wiser with the final scene bringing it all home. 

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Chris Howey

This fascinating piece is about a deadly serious Depression-era event that added fuel to the black civil rights movement in the 1960s. 

Howard Gollop

If nothing else, the Beck Center for the Arts and the Baldwin-Wallace musical theater program deserve accolades for at last bringing this criminally neglected decade-old musical to Northeast Ohio.  It not only marks the final collaboration of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, it majestically and ingeniously unfolds a chapter of Black American history that gave birth to the civil rights movement.

Then again, this production of "Scottsboro Boys" -- conceived in the style of a classic minstrel show -- deserves so much more adulations for its sheer talent -- magnificently helmed by choreographer-director Jon Martinez.

Complete article appears in Elyria Chronicle Telegram

Laura Kennelly

Brilliant and daring. The latest Baldwin Wallace University/Beck Center collaborative production, John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, directed and choreographed by Jon Martinez, provides a stunning (albeit starkly condensed) musical sketch of a real event.

To see a full review of this show, go to Scottsboro Boys or read Laura's post at Cool Cleveland.

Andrea Simakis

It's a swift, sometimes beautiful, often brutal ride---entertaining and horrifying all at once.

To see a full review of this show, read Andrea Simakis' blog or visit Cleveland.com here.