The Museum of Broadway will present a free lecture from Resident Historian and Timeline Walls Curator Ben West on “Early Black Authors of the American Musical.” The program, in the Museum’s event space, is from 5:30 to 6:30 PM on Wednesday, February 22.
From Bert Williams and George Walker’s groundbreaking musicals, including The Sons of Ham (1900) and In Dahomey (1903)—the first musical composed and performed entirely by African-Americans in a major Broadway theater—to 1921’s Shuffle Along, West will speak about the rich and largely overlooked Black contributions to the Rialto from its earliest days. Notable also is that the early 20th century was the beginning of the Great American Songbook, with Black writers of Tin Pan Alley and beyond making significant contributions.
West is a musical theater artist and historian and the author of The American Musical, to be published by Routledge in 2023. He has worked in various capacities on Broadway, Off-Broadway and regionally. His work has also been seen in Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. West has lectured and spoken at several institutions including the Library of Congress, Yale University, The New York Public Library, University of Michigan and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He is also a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award.
The conversation is free to attend, but requires reservations, available here.
The Museum of Broadway is located at 145 W 45th St., NYC
