At the start of this production, cast members sing a medley of the 1971 Marvin Gaye (with Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Al Cleveland) song "What's Going On" combined with the patriotic anthem "America the Beautiful." At the end of the play, there is another song medley performed--this time, a combination of "What's Going On" with "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," the 1905 song by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson that is known as the black national anthem.
