Happy Thursday, friends! Today we have a special guest on the blog, Caseen Gaines, author of Footnotes and When Broadway Was Black. I read an ARC of Footnotes last year and was absolutely blown away by this rich history of musical theatre, and when I heard that Caseen was releasing another book expanding upon Shuffle Along and it’s Broadway journey, I just knew that I had to read it.
I’m thrilled to have Caseen on the blog today and learn a bit more about him and When Broadway Was Black. Grab a cup of tea, get cozy, and read our interview below!
Hi Caseen, thank you so much for joining us today! We’re so happy to have you here. For those that may not know you, can you share a little bit about yourself?
Thank you so much for having me. I’m a writer and the author of several books on different pivotal moments in popular culture. My latest book is When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical That Changed the World, which looks at the history and lasting legacy of 1921’s Shuffle Along, not only to the theater industry, but to the entertainment industry and America more broadly.
How did you get started in theatre and writing?
I’ve always been interested in both writing and theater. When I was little, I would retell stories I had read, or episodes of television shows I had watched, to my friends on the playground. What a friend I must have been! But in all seriousness, I also always loved acting and, as I grew older, directing. It’s all storytelling, which has always been my first love.
Your previous book Footnotes focuses on Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles and their journeys to Broadway in addition to the creation of Shuffle Along. What made you want to write When Broadway Was Black and expand upon the legacy of Shuffle Along?
When Broadway Was Black is really an extension of Footnotes. I often refer to it as the “special edition” of Footnotes. Most of the book is actually the same, but there is a brand-new introduction, the last chapter has been rewritten, there is new information throughout, and some new photos. As the book was coming out in paperback, we took advantage of the opportunity we had to expand the book. This is really the definitive version of the Shuffle Along story, as it also includes more information about the 2016 George C. Wolfe version as well.
What was the research and writing process like for both Footnotes and When Broadway Was Black?
I spent a lot of time in libraries sifting through old newspapers, personal correspondence, unpublished memoirs, and a lot of other materials. It was an archeological dig, but it was also very exciting! I’m used to interviewing people and using that material as the backbone for my work, but while I conducted some interviews for this book, primary sources really were my best friends here.
You’ve written books about film and theatre, are there any differences when it comes to the writing and research process?
I think the biggest difference was writing about something that took place a hundred years as opposed to about a film or television show from the 1980s or 1990s. It really required I flex my research muscles. Besides that, I think there are great commonalities to writing about film and theater.
The 2021-2022 Broadway season saw 7 new plays by Black playwrights, and the 2022-2023 season saw the Broadway debut of Adrienne Kennedy with Ohio State Murders. In recent years there have also been musicals such as Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, A Strange Loop, and MJ: The Musical, that celebrate Black artists. Are there any plays and/or musicals by Black artists that you’d love to see on Broadway?
I was actually having a conversation the other day with Kaisha Creates, the wonderful theater content creator, about this very thing and I realized, I’d just like to see more accessible theater that Black audience members would enjoy seeing. A lot of people turn up their noses at the influx of musicals, especially, that are based on preexisting intellectual property, but shows like Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge, and others make it to Broadway because they have done big box office in movie theaters. Well, there are lots of films with primarily-Black casts that have also done well, but they don’t become adapted for the stage. There are exceptions, like The Color Purple, but they are few and far between. I loved A Strange Loop, but a deep Pulitzer Prize-winning musical isn’t for everyone. Diversity on Broadway isn’t just about adding more brown faces, but also about different types of shows that get staged and the different types of audience members they speak to.
Have you started planning your next book? Do you think you’ll write other books focused on Broadway?
Yes…and yes!
Links for When Broadway Black: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
A huge thank you to Caseen for taking the time to answer our questions! If you’re a fan of theatre and want to learn more about the influence that Black artists have had on theatre as we know it, I can’t recommend Caseen’s books more highly. Until next time!
Caseen Gaines is an author, director, educator, and popular culture historian.
His work has received praise from media outlets around the world including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Hollywood Reporter, and Esquire.
His latest book, Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way, was published in May 2021. His forthcoming book, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The Ultimate Visual History, will be released this August.
He is the author of We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, which led to his television appearances on Entertainment Tonight and Netflix’s “The Movies That Made Us.” His book The Dark Crystal: The Ultimate Visual History received a starred review in Booklist.
His first book, Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse, was a 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medalist. Its follow up, A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classic, was featured on The TV Guide Network, where Gaines also appears on a perennially televised documentary.
Beyond his books, he has been published at Vanity Fair, io9, and New York Magazine — and has written original features for Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, and Decider. He has also worked as a consultant and ghostwriter on several narrative nonfiction projects.
He holds a Master’s Degree from Rutgers University in American Studies, where he focused on racial representations in popular culture, and, in addition to writing, is co-Artistic Director of a nonprofit theater company he cofounded in 2005 and a high school English teacher in New Jersey, where he has taught for sixteen years.
