Shuffle Along is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles.

It launched the careers of Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall,[6] Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Paul Robeson, and was so popular it caused "curtain time traffic jams" on West 63rd Street.

[7] A 2016 adaptation, Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, focused on the challenges of mounting the original production as well as its lasting effects on Broadway and race relations.

The show's four writers were African-American Vaudeville veterans who first met in 1920 at an NAACP benefit held at the newly opened Dunbar Theatre in Philadelphia.

When the show returned to New York about a year later, during the Depression of 1920–21, the production owed $18,000 and faced strong competition on Broadway in a season that included Florenz Ziegfeld's Sally and a new edition of George White's Scandals.

[12] Miller and Lyles wrote thin, jokey dialogue scenes to connect the songs: "The plot of ... Shuffle Along was mainly to allow an excuse for the singing and dancing.

Miller and Lyles used the context they were given to captivate and appeal to audiences; however, they maintained their voices rather than resorting to typically exaggerated blackface characterizations.

It launched or boosted the careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Adelaide Hall,[2] and contributed to the desegregation of theaters in the 1920s, giving many black actors their first chance to appear on Broadway.

Once it left New York, the show toured for three years and was, according to Barbara Glass, the first black musical to play in white theaters across the United States.

While stereotypes were indeed present, Sissle and Blake worked "within a parallel performance form," replacing "the negative stereotypes… with a vastly more positive image.

Eubie Blake's score was a way to demonstrate his "command of every important genre of contemporary commercial" music without disguising "his individuality or race.

[5] Directed by Walter Brooks, with Eubie Blake playing the piano, the cast included Lottie Gee as Jessie Williams, Adelaide Hall as Jazz Jasmine, Gertrude Saunders as Ruth Little, Roger Matthews as Harry Walton, and Noble Sissle as Tom Sharper.

[11][26] According to theatre historian John Kenrick, "Judged by contemporary standards, much of Shuffle Along would seem offensive ... most of the comedy relied on old minstrel show stereotypes.

[28] In 1929, Harlem, a drama by Wallace Thurman and William Rapp, introduced the Slow Drag, the first African-American social dance to reach Broadway.

"[30] Loften Mitchell, author of Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre, credited Shuffle Along with launching the Harlem Renaissance,[citation needed] as did Langston Hughes.

Many Negro stereotypes had been developed by white directors that had “parodied from carefully selected aspects of real African American Life” (Hay 16).

At the Mansfield Theatre, from December 26, 1932, to January 7, 1933, starring Sissle, Blake, Miller, Mantan Moreland, and Bill Bailey: the production closed after 17 performances.

[34] Despite its quick closure in New York City, the revival began touring, including a young Nat King Cole in the cast, eventually ending in Los Angeles in 1937.

During World War II, Sissle and Blake adapted and performed Shuffle Along for USO shows, with an ensemble that included pianist and vibraphonist Sylvester Lewis.

Starring Sissle, Blake, Avon Long, and Thelma Carpenter, and choreographed by Henry LeTang, this incarnation was recorded in an abridged form by RCA Victor, combined with selections from Blackbirds of 1928.

[38] The cast starred Audra McDonald as Lottie Gee, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Miller, Billy Porter as Lyles, Brandon Victor Dixon as Blake and Joshua Henry as Sissle.