Mule Bone was produced for the first time in 1991 by the Lincoln Center Theater, more than 60 years after it was written.[18] It opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway on February 14, 1991, to generally negative reviews.[19]
Reviewing Mule Bone for The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote that it was "an evening that can most kindly be described as innocuous". He described it as a "broad, often bland quasi-musical".[20] Also writing in The New York Times, David Richards said of Mule Bone: "it's just not a very good play."[21] Both critics suggested the play might have been much better had Hughes and Hurston finished their collaboration.[20][21]
The production closed on April 14, 1991, after 68 performances.[19]
