Stormy Weather (1943) with Author Caseen Gaines

If Hamilton, Rent, or West Side Story captured your heart, you’ll love this in-depth look into the rise of the 1921 Broadway hit, Shuffle Along, the first all-Black musical to succeed on Broadway. No one was sure if America was ready for a show featuring nuanced, thoughtful portrayals of Black characters— and the potential fallout was terrifying. But from the first jazzy, syncopated beats of composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, New York audiences fell head over heels.

When Broadway Was Black is the story of how Sissle and Blake, along with comedians Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, overcame poverty, racism, and violence to harness the energy of the Harlem Renaissance and produce a runaway Broadway hit that launched the careers of many of the twentieth century’s most beloved Black performers.

Born in the shadow of slavery and establishing their careers at a time of increasing demands for racial justice and representation for people of color, they broke down innumerable barriers between Black and white communities at a crucial point in our history.
Author and pop culture expert Caseen Gaines leads readers through the glitz and glamour of New York City during the Roaring Twenties to reveal the revolutionary impact one show had on generations of Americans, and how its legacy continues to resonate today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caseen Gaines is an author, director, educator, and popular culture historian.

His work has received praise from media outlets around the world including NPR (“impressively exhaustive . . . enthusiastic and thorough”), The Hollywood Reporter (“revealing”), Esquire (“fascinating”), and Publishers Weekly (“enthusiastically comprehensive”). His “muscular reporting” has been celebrated by several New York Times bestselling authors, including Michael Davis and Brian Jay Jones, who have found his work to be “deeply researched and engagingly written.”

Beyond his books, he has been published at Vanity Fair and New York Magazine — and has written original features for Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, and Decider. He has also worked as a consultant and ghostwriter on several narrative nonfiction projects.

Gaines holds a Master’s Degree from Rutgers University in American Studies, where he focused on racial representations in popular culture. In addition to writing, he directs theater and teaches literature and writing, drama, journalism, and a course on race at a high school in New Jersey, where he lives. Visit him at caseengaines.com.

ABOUT THE FILM