In Dahomey

The full plot includes farcial hijinx with a silver casket, three barrels of whiskey and a thwarted execution.

George Walker and Bert Williams formed a vaudeville act in 1893 and toured the United States for over a decade. In 1902 they teamed up with composers Cecil Mack and Will Marion Cook to craft their act into the musical comedy In Dahomey. The show moved to Broadway in 1903. After 53 performances in New York the show toured the U.S. and London. It has been billed as "the first African-American-written musical to play a New York legit theatre.”

I've read several conflicting summaries of the plot. It was primarily a satire of colonialism that allowed Walker and Williams to play the con man/straight man pairing from their vaudeville routines. The show allowed the audience to pick a winning couple in a cakewalk dance and gave Williams his trademark song "The Jonah Man." Walker used the partnerships he made to found "an organization for African-American professional entertainers in 1908."