Hal Linden, center, and the cast of The Scottsboro Boys

The Scottsboro Boys has great songs in a carefree ragtime melody beat and a provocative story. All of the technical elements in this production, from the set to the lighting to the costumes and sound, are perfectly in sync. And director-choreographer Susan Stroman has never done better work.

The Scottsboro Boys is an improbable choice for a musical since it is based on nine young black men age 13 to 19 who were arrested on trumped up rape charges in 1931 Alabama. The young men were just riding the rails and searching for work when two white women (played uproariously by Clifton Oliver and James T. Lane), threatened with imprisonment for also riding the rails, accused the nine men of rape. The death sentences at subsequent trials were overturned again and again by Northern courts, and none of the nine were actually killed. However, they spent years in prison—some, over 20 years. Even after release, their lives were shattered. In minstrel style, led by a white master of ceremonies (Hal Linden), these nine young men sing and dance their story with the assistance of two stock vaudeville performers, Mr. Bones (Jared Joseph) and Mr. Tambo (JC. Montgomery).

The setting is boldly theatrical, but, through Kander and Ebb's talents, it is both entertaining and confrontational. The opening number "Minstrel March/Hey Hey Hey Hey" is pure razzle dazzle and keeps your feet tapping. Some of the numbers are reminiscent of Kander and Ebb's Cabaret and Chicago. You get to know each of the young men, ranging from the two brothers to a little boy to the strong Haywood Patterson (Clifton Duncan).

In one of the tense scenes in this one hour 55 minute musical Linden as the Interlocutor exhorts the boys to sing one of the "oldies" and they launch into the pitch-perfect "Southern Days," which sounds like something the Hall Johnson Choir would have done in the films of the 1930s. It was like "darkies singing in the fields" and the mythically tranquil world of the slave states before the Civil War. However, you can see these young men are not happy singing this song, even when Linden says "Smile" in a demanding voice. You can see the forced grins on the men's faces as the the lyrics suddenly change to menace and the song describes lynching and other evils.

With the exception of Clifton Duncan, the other members of the cast double and triple in other roles with fluctuating degrees of believability, but always in character. Duncan is a standout as Haywood Patterson. He has wonderful vocal chops singing "Commencing in Chattanooga" and "Nothin'," an homage to the great black comic and minstrel performer Bert Williams. Eric Jackson, David Bazemore, and Clinton Roane engrave indelible characters. Jared Joseph and J.C. Montgomery are ready, enthusiastic and able to exaggerate a mostly evil crew of while folk. Hal Linden is engaging in the role of The Interlocutor. He does a very good job of keeping the narrative straight. He is part of the distant past, out of step with the present, and clearly an artifact. C. Kelly Wright, the only woman in the group, gives a moving performance.

Music Director Eric Ebbenga's great pit band and the actors sell even the less interesting numbers, and Stroman keeps revitalizing the action with imaginative staging on Beowulf Boritt's unembellished set. With its high-energy ensemble and dynamic direction and choreography, this darkly provocative musical makes a fitting swan song for the duo behind Cabaret and Chicago.

The Scottsboro Boys plays through July 22nd at the American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. For tickets please call 415-749-2228 or online at www.act-sf.org Coming up next is a return engagement of Lorenzo Pisoni's Humor Abuse opening on August 3rd and running through August 19th.

Photo: Kevin Berne

- Richard Connema