Jerico-Jim Crow is a critically acclaimed 1964 musical, with a book written by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

. It was a pioneering work in the urban contemporary gospel

Urban contemporary gospel

Traditional black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...

 musical style, based on the themes of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. According to Arnold Rampersad

Arnold Rampersad

Arnold Rampersad is a biographer and literary critic. The first volume of his Life Of Langston Hughes was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He was born in Trinidad and Tobago....

, a Hughes scholar, Hughes had “virtually pioneered” the black gospel musical, first with Black Nativity

Black Nativity

Black Nativity is a retelling of the classic Nativity story with an entirely black cast. Traditional Christmas carols are sung in gospel style, with a few songs created specifically for the show. Originally written by Langston Hughes, the show was first performed on Broadway on December 11, 1961,...

(1961) and then with Jericho-Jim Crow http://www.nyfos.org/?body=notes&program=1995langston.

Book: William Hairston and Langston Hughes

Premiere: Sunday, January 5, 1964 at the Sanctuary Theatre, (New York) . It was co-directed by Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...

 and William Hairston and conducted by Hugh Porter. Marion Joseph Franklin, Jr. was associate musical director and musical accompanist.

(A 1964 New York Times Review

Review

A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...

 by Richard F. Shepard http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/22/specials/hughes-jericho.html)

Original Cast

• Joseph Attles
  Joseph Attles
  Joseph Attles was an American character actor.He was born in James Island, South Carolina, United States on April 7, 1903. He died on October 29, 1990.-Theatre:*Tambourines to Glory*John Henry - 1940*Porgy and Bess...
  
  
• William Cain
• Dorothy Drake
• Micki Grant
  Micki Grant
  Micki Grant is an American singer actress, writer and composer. She performed in Having Our Say , Tambourines to Glory and Jericho-Jim Crow, The Gingham Dog, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope and has received three Tony Award nominations for her writing...
  
  
• Rosalie King
  Rosalie King
  Rosalie King , also known as Rosalie Simpson, was an American character actress and singer.She appeared on radio in The Maxwell House Coffee Hour...
  
  
• Metrogene Myles
• Gilbert Price
  Gilbert Price
  Gilbert Price was an American singer and actor.Price was one of Langston Hughes's protégés; his first starring role was in Hughes's Jericho-Jim Crow , for which he won a Theatre World Award....
  
  

Songs

• A meeting here tonight
• I'm on my way
• I been 'Buked and I been Scorned
• Such a little king
• Is Massa Gwine to sell us tomorrow?
• How much do you want me to bear?
• Where will I lie down?
• Follow the Drinkin' Gourd
  Follow the Drinkin' Gourd
  "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" is an American folk song first published in 1928. The "Drinking Gourd" is another name for the Big Dipper asterism. Folklore has it that fugitive slaves in the United States used it as a point of reference so they would not get lost...
  
  
• John Brown's Body
  John Brown's Body
  "John Brown's Body" is an American marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the 19th century...
  
  
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic
  The Battle Hymn of the Republic
  "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a hymn by American writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It became popular during the American Civil War...
  
  
• Slavery chain done broke at last
• Oh, Freedom
  Oh, Freedom
  Oh, Freedom is a post Civil War African American freedom song, notably associated with Odetta, who recorded it as part of the Spiritual Trilogy, on her "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues", and Joan Baez, who first performed the song at the 1963 March on Washington, and has since performed the song...
  
  
• Go down, Moses
  Go Down Moses
  "Go Down Moses" is an American Negro spiritual. It describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 7:16: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me", in which God commands Moses to demand...
  
  
• Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
  Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
  Ezekiel Saw the Wheel is a famous folk song, covered by such artists as Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson, John Lee Hooker, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Tillers, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Gold City...
  
  
• Stay in the field
• Freedom land
• God's gonna cut you down
• Better leave segregation alone
• My mind on freedom
• We Shall Overcome
  We Shall Overcome
  "We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement . The title and structure of the song are derived from an early gospel song by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley...
  
  
• The battle of old Jim Crow
• Come and go with me