John Cullum is locked in to reprise his role in “The Scottsboro Boys,” the Kander and Ebb tuner heading to Broadway in the fall.
Cullum first played the character called the Interlocutor in the musical’s world preem production at Off Broadway’s Vineyard Theater in the spring. Thesp is on board for the Main Stem incarnation but won’t travel with the show to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where the tuner will play July 31-Sept. 25. (David Anthony Brinkley will fill the role there.)
Many members of the Off Broadway cast of “Scottsboro” are returning to the production, although Joshua Henry will take on the central role of Haywood Patterson. He replaces Brandon Victor Dixon, now toplining incoming Ray Charles musical “Unchain My Heart.”
Cullum (“Northern Exposure”) — whose Rialto credits include “Urinetown,” “110 in the Shade” and “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” — last appeared on Broadway in “August: Osage County.”
Tuner, one of the last works by the songwriting team of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, recounts the historical tale of nine black men wrongly accused of rape, presented in the style of a minstrel show.
“Scottsboro” begins previews Oct. 7 ahead of an Oct. 31 opening at the Lyceum Theater.
