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Runnin' Wild / Pete Nugent [theatrical performance]

Title

Runnin' Wild [Theatrical Performance]

Performers

Nugent, Pete

Mack, Lavinia

Collins, Chink

Woods, Tommy

Dyer, Sammy

Wilson, Derby

Barnes, Mae

Published/Created

1923-10-29

Genre

Theatrical Performance

Venue

Colonial Theater

Abstract

A musical comedy in two acts, 10 scenes. book by Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey L. Lyles. Music by James P. Johnson. Lyrics by Cecil Mack. Dances arranged by Lida Webb. Produced by George White. Opened 29 October 1923 at the Colonial Theatre and closed 3 May 1924 after 220 performances; returned with New Edition 23-28 June 1924 to the Colonial Theatre for an additional 8 performances. Cast included Adelaide Hall, Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, with Tommy Woods as Chief Red Cap and Ralph Bryson as Lightning; a twenty-member female chorus that included Mildred Dixon; and 6 member male chorus that included Ralph Cooper.
Pete Nugent joined the show after its opening.(though William Collins says Nugent joined the TOBA production of Runnin' Wild and never appeared in the Broadway production)

Tommy Woods and the boys featured in "Act I Scene 2 "Red Caps Cappers"; "Charleston" (Act I Scene 5) with E. Welsh and chorus; ; Act II Sce 5 "Juba Dance" with chorus; and "ending with "Jazz Your Troubles Away" with entire company.

Runnin' Wild was the closest any black musical comedy of the era came to repeating Shuffle Along's success. It presented the usual flimsy plot principaled by the sharper and dolt that Bert Williams and George Walker had established as a formula for Negro shows almost a quarter of a century before, and which Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles had perpetuated with Shuffle Along. Miller and Lyles were the show's librettists and were also back on stage to portray Steve Jenkins and Sam Peck again. Naturally the setting was once more Jimtown. There were the customary racial comedy scenes; for example, the timid Negro confronted with a ghost. But what the public really enjoyed was what the Tribune termed "rhythm... and risible dental display." One number in the show, a dance, ultimately expressed and symbolized the whole gaudy era about to explode. It pronounced the beat for the "lost generation" and liberated the whole jazz movement. The dance song was, of course, "The Charleston" by James P. Johnson. The dance typified the black-inspired high-stepping of the era. It was gawky, zesty, and, obviously, irresistible. The show featured a group of chorus dancers called the "Dancing Redcaps" who performed the "Charleston" number accompanied by the cast patting Juba, clapping and stamping out the accents. Legend had it that the dance had been taught to the cast by a trio of African-American youngsters that Flournoy Miller had seen dancing on a street corner. The choreographer, Lida Webb, then created the show-stopping number for the male chorus and in this way, the Charleston was introduced to the general public. Apparently George White did not like the Charleston and originally want it cut from the show but wisely left it in. He had a reputation of being pretentious and of always trying to tone down any African-American styles of dancing in his shows.

Marshall Stearns mentions old-timers Katie Carter and Murial Ringold as tap dancers of the turn of the century who were predecessors of 1920s tap dancers such as Lavinia Mack, featured in Runnin' Wild."

Source

Norton Anthology of Drama: Norton Anthology of Drama: Nineteenth Century to the Present (Vol. 2). W.W. Norton & Company (2009).

Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992).

Knowles, Mark: Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing. Jefferson, NC: Mcfarland & Co. (2002).

Copasetic Annual Souvenir Book: "Ode To the Tapper: Pete Nugent". The Copasetics Annual Souvenir Book, 1973 (1973).

Last Updated: 12-16-2015