Tambourines to Glory is a 1956 black gospel musical play by Langston Hughes. It tells the story of two female street preachers who open a store front church in Harlem. Hughes later turned the play into a novel in 1958.
The musical was generally well-received but generated some criticism from certain segments of the black intelligentsia, who felt that the themes of corruption and hyprocrisy mocked the black church.
The opening night cast on Broadway in 1963 included a who’s who of African-American performers including
Attles, Grant and King teamed up the following year in Hughes's Jericho-Jim Crow; over time Grant received three Tony Award nominations for her writing. Gossett became a major film star, Guillaume achieved fame in the television series Soap and Benson, Merritt starred in The Wiz and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and the television series That's My Mama.