 Shuffle Along was a significant theatrical success that " ended more than a decade of systematic exclusion of blacks from the Broadway stage " . The show opened in New York City at Daly 's 63rd Street Music Hall on May 23 , 1921 and ran 504 performances . The venue was actually a converted lecture hall that lacked a proper stage or orchestra pit . The show overcame financial straits and a poor location to become " the first all @-@ black musical to enjoy a long run and be treated as more than an oddity . " 
