«Shuffle Along» reunites after 10 years: Broadway stars’ concert to air on PBS in 2027

Love will find a way — even to television. The «Shuffle Along» reunion concert, the 10th-anniversary production of the musical that sparked the Harlem Renaissance, will be broadcast on television and available for streaming in 2027, as Playbill reports.

The surprise was revealed on stage on the evening of September 27 at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater: both reunion concerts, held on September 27 and 28, are being recorded for PBS’s “Great Performances” series, which has won the Tony Award for its theatrical broadcasts. The broadcast date and its place in the series’ 2027 schedule will be announced later.

The concerts feature most of the original cast of the 2016 Broadway production, returning to their roles: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Adrienne Warren, Brandon Victor Dixon, Brooks Ashmanskas, Amber Iman, Darius de Haas, JC Montgomery, Arbender J. Robinson and Christian Dante White, along with ensemble members Afra Hines, Curtis Holland, Adrienne Howard, Erin N. Moore, Janelle Neal, Karissa Royster, Pamela Yasutake and Richard Riaz Yoder. Norm Lewis replaces original member Joshua Henry; the shows also feature Lamont Brown and Lisa La Touche.

The original «Shuffle Along», with music by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, debuted on Broadway in 1921 and was the first commercial hit with an all-Black cast and creative team — a starting point for the era of flourishing Black creativity in America. The 2016 version, directed by George C. Wolfe with choreography by Savion Glover, played at the Music Box Theatre for 38 previews and 100 performances. The reunion, directed by Wolfe with Glover participating as choreographer, is part of Lincoln Center’s “Legacies of San Juan Hill” festival.