“Prince and choreographer Susan Stroman have given the show a sweep that draws the audience almost effortlessly (despite a somewhat static and long first act) across the years. Their most dazzling interpolation is a montage near the end of the second act that uses the changing fashions of popular dance to move the action from fin de siecle Chicago to the flapper era, and it’s also here that the production pays homage to the striking ways black life and art permeated American culture.”