Music Eubie Blake Productions 1978 Broadway Playwright Al Rose Orchestrator Neal Tate | Book Revue Originally published 1979 Composer Eubie Blake | |
Lyrics Noble Sissle
Andy Razaf
Johnny Brandon
F. E. Miller
Jim Europe Lyricists F.E. Miller, Johnny Brandon, Noble Sissle, Andy Razaf, James Reese Europe Similar Sophisticated Ladies, Jelly's Last Jam, Maurice Hines is Tappin' T, Black and Blue, Bring Back Birdie | ||
Eubie! is a revue featuring the music of Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle, Andy Razaf, Johnny Brandon, F. E. Miller, and Jim Europe.
Production
After seven previews, the Broadway production, conceived and directed by Julianne Boyd and choreographed by Billy Wilson and Henry LeTang, opened on September 20, 1978 at the Ambassador Theatre, where it ran for 439 performances. The cast included Alaina Reed, Lynnie Godfrey, and the Hines brothers, Gregory and Maurice. An original cast recording was released in 1979, but has not been released on CD.
The theater setting was designed to be reminiscent of the 1920s, with "curlicued settings, dancers diving down a staircase in a pie-shaped wedge, a girl in a mantilla with a Spanish rose in her teeth". Many of the songs were from the Blake-Sissle 1921 show Shuffle Along. Among the songs were "Charleston Rag", "Daddy", "My Handyman Ain't Handy No More", "Gee, I Wish I Had Someone to Rock Me in the Cradle of Love", and "There's a Million Little Cupids in the Sky" (from the Blake-Sissle show "The Chocolate Dandies).