''Run, Little Chillun'' or ''Run Little Chillun'' is a folk opera written by

Hall Johnson Francis Hall Johnson (March 12, 1888 – April 30, 1970) was an American composer and arranger of African-American spiritual music. He is one of a group—including Harry T. Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett, and Eva Jessye—who had great success pe ...

. According to James Vernon Hatch and Leo Hamalian, it is one of the most successful musical dramas of the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. It was the first

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

show directed by an African-American.

Development

''Run, Little Chillun'' or ''Run Little Chillun'' (the original score did not include the comma) is a folk opera play, or musical drama, written by

. The script was first published in 1996.

Plot

The play contrasts pagan and Christian religious traditions among Blacks in the American South.

Productions

The show premiered in 1933 on Broadway and ran for four months and 126 performances. It was revived in 1935–1937 by the

Federal Theater Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by ...

and ran for two years in Los Angeles. It was directed by Clarence Edouard Muse. It was produced in 1939 in San Francisco at the

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

. In 1943 it was revived on Broadway at the

Hudson Theatre The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the Hudson was built ...

. It was the first Broadway show with an African-American director, the first with an African-American composer, and the first African-American folk opera on Broadway.

Reception

Hatch and Hamalian called it "buoyant in spirit" and said it is considered one of the most successful musical dramas of the

Kenneth Burke Kenneth Duva Burke (May 5, 1897 – November 19, 1993) was an American literary theorist, as well as poet, essayist, and novelist, who wrote on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary theorist, Burke ...

said the play allowed audiences to see how American Blacks had survived in a culture of oppression. According to

Eileen Southern Eileen Jackson Southern (February 19, 1920 – October 13, 2002) was an American musicologist, researcher, author, and teacher. Southern's research focused on black American musical styles, musicians, and composers; she also published on ea ...

, "the outstanding quality of the play was its music, particularly in two spectacular scenes—a revival meeting and a pagan religious orgy."

References

{{Reflist 1930s musicals 1933 musicals African-American plays American musicals American plays Broadway musicals All-Black cast Broadway shows Folk operas