Show Boat

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Show Boat
Window card for the 1993 revival
Music	Jerome Kern
Lyrics	Oscar Hammerstein II
Book	Oscar Hammerstein II
Based upon	Show Boat by Edna Ferber
Productions	1927–1929 Broadway 1932 Broadway revival 1946 Broadway revival 1983 Broadway revival 1994 Broadway revival

Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song "Bill", which was originally written for Kern in 1918 by P. G. Wodehouse but reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat, and two songs not by Kern and Hammerstein that are always interpolated into American stage productions of the show: "Goodbye, My Lady Love" by Joseph Howard and "After the Ball" by Charles K. Harris.

Show Boat is based on a 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber, and is generally considered to be the first true American "musical play", as a dramatic form with popular music, separate from operettas, the light musical comedies of the Gay Nineties and the early years of the 20th century (e.g., Florodora), and the "Follies"-type musical revues that preceded it. In many ways, it took the plot and character-centered "Princess Musicals" that Kern had developed with Bolton and Wodehouse the previous decade and broadened the scope.

However, George S. Kaufman and George Gershwin's Strike Up the Band, which previewed earlier that year, clearly made similar leaps, although its subject matter was satirical and farcical, and unlike the "Princess Theatre" musicals, Show Boat was sentimental and somewhat tragic; it was also created in the style of a musical epic, rather than an intimate show with two sets and only a few characters.

The role of Joe, the stevedore who sings "Ol' Man River", was specifically written for Paul Robeson (although Joe does appear in Ferber's novel, where he is a cook instead of a stevedore). Robeson, however, eventually had to back out of the Broadway run because the producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, postponed the show in favor of the much less ambitious (and less risky) Rio Rita. With a later opening date Jules Bledsoe played Joe on Broadway, but Robeson finally played the role (a part for which he became world-famous) in London (with Alberta Hunter as Queenie and Mabel Mercer in the black chorus), in the 1932 New York revival, and in the 1936 film version. Bledsoe, despite being famous at the time, eventually faded into obscurity.

Contents 1 Plot synopsis 2 Songs 3 Production history 3.1 Radio productions 4 Racism and Controversy 4.1 Integration 4.2 Language and Stereotypes 4.3 Revisions and cancellations 4.4 1993 Revival 4.5 Analysis 5 Trivia 6 Notes

[edit] Plot synopsis

The story spans about 40 years, beginning aboard the showboat Cotton Blossom in the 1880s, on the Mississippi River near Natchez, Mississippi. Cap'n Andy Hawks, owner of the show boat, introduces all of his actors to the excited crowd on the levee.

Almost immediately, a fist fight breaks out between Steve Baker, the leading man of the troupe, and Pete, a rough, ill-mannered engineer who had been making passes at Steve's wife, Julie La Verne, the leading lady of the company. Steve knocks Pete down and Pete swears revenge, apparently knowing some dark secret about Julie. Cap'n Andy pretends to the shocked crowd that the fight was a preview of a scene from one of the melodramas performed on the boat. The troupe exits with the show boat band.

A riverboat gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, comes aboard the boat and is taken with Magnolia Hawks, an aspiring performer and daughter of Cap'n Andy and his wife Parthy Ann. Magnolia (aka Nolie) is smitten with Ravenal as well, and seeks advice from Joe, one of the workers aboard the boat.

During the rehearsal for that evening's show, Julie and Steve are alerted that the town sheriff is coming to arrest them. To the shock of all except Julie, Steve then takes out a large pocket knife and makes a cut on the back of her hand, sucking the blood and swallowing it. Then Pete returns with the sheriff, who insists that the show not go on, because Julie is a mulatto woman married to a white man, and local laws prohibit miscegenation. Julie admits that she is a mulatto, but because he swallowed Julie's blood (and therefore has at least "one drop of black blood" in him), Steve is able to claim that he is also, and the sympathetic troupe backs him up.

The sheriff is powerless to arrest Julie and Steve, but they must leave town anyway. Pete is fired by Cap'n Andy. With the star gone, Magnolia and Gaylord fill in. He later confesses his love for her and proposes.

Years later, Gaylord and Magnolia are married and living in Chicago with their daughter, Kim. Gaylord's gambling debts get out of control, and they are living in a very poor apartment. Frank and Ellie, two actors on the boat visit, when Magnolia finds that Gaylord has left her. Frank and Ellie seek a singing job for Magnolia at the same club where they are working for New Year's.

Unbeknownst to Magnolia, Julie, now a drunken showgirl left by her husband, hears Magnolia singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", the song Julie taught her years ago, and abandons her position so that Magnolia can fill it. (At this point, the character of Julie completely disappears from the stage and the 1936 film versions, though in the 1951 film, she is given one more scene near the end.)

On New Year's Eve, Andy comes to the club, unaware of Magnolia's troubles, only to discover her nearly being booed off stage. He rallies the crowd to her defense in a grand sing-along of an old song "After the Ball". Magnolia becomes a great musical star.

Years later, when Kim is now a star of the stage, Gaylord returns for a happy reunion with Magnolia.

The 1951 MGM film changed many aspects of the story, including bringing Ravenal and Magnolia back together only a few years after they separated (rather than twenty-three years afterward). Gaylord has a chance meeting with Julie, and learns that he has a daughter he didn't know about. Kim is only seen as a cute child in this film.

[edit] Songs

The original production ran nearly four hours and was subsequently trimmed to just over three by the time it actually got to Broadway. The show is now never performed onstage at its original length. Two songs, "Till Good Luck Comes My Way" (sung by Ravenal) and "Hey Feller!" (sung by Queenie) were written mainly to cover scenery changes, and could be easily cut without hurting the story. "Hey Feller!" was completely discarded in 1946, and has turned up again only on the 1988 EMI album. Two new songs have been written by Kern and Hammerstein for other stage productions of the show, and three more have been written by them for the 1936 film version.

Typically, productions pick and choose from the original material and fashion a distinct version of Show Boat. Key songs usually found in productions include the following:

• Overture — The original overture, used in all stage productions up to 1946 (and heard on the 3-disc EMI/Angel CD for the first time in nearly fifty years), is dramatic, and largely based on the deleted song "Mis'ry's Comin' Round", which Kern wanted to save in some form, and which was restored in the 1993 revival of the show. It also contains fragments of "Ol' Man River" and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", and, towards the end, there is a lively, rather than slow, rendition of "Why Do I Love You?". The overture for the 1946 revival is a standard medley consisting of "Mis'ry's Comin' Round", "Ol' Man River", "Why Do I Love You?", "Make Believe" and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". Still another overture was arranged for the 1966 Lincoln Center revival, consisting of a medley of all these songs, but adding the comic number "I Might Fall Back on You", which is sometimes omitted from modern productions. All three overtures were arranged by Robert Russell Bennett.

• "Cotton Blossom" — The notes in the phrase "Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom" are the same notes as those in the phrase "Old Man River, dat Old Man River," but inverted. However, "Cotton Blossom" was written first, and "Ol' Man River" was written only after Kern and Hammerstein realized they needed a song to end the first scene in the show. Hammerstein decided to use the idea of the Mississippi River as a basis for the song, and told Kern to use the melody that the stevedores sang in "Cotton Blossom", but invert some of it, and slow down the tempo. This gave the melody a more tragic quality, and became "Ol' Man River". The fact that the same basic melodic motive is used for both songs works symbolically.
• "Where's the Mate for Me?"
• "Make Believe"
• "Ol' Man River"
• "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" — Queenie's surprise at the apparently white Julie's knowledge of a "black folks'" song foreshadows the discovery of Julie's mixed origins.
• "Life Upon the Wicked Stage"
• "Till Good Luck Comes My Way" — frequently omitted from stage productions since the 1946 revival; restored in the 1988 EMI CD set and used in the 1993 revival
• "I Might Fall Back on You"
• "Queenie's Ballyhoo"
• "You Are Love" — a song that nearly all critics and audiences are fond of, but considered by Jerome Kern to be the score's worst song; he unsuccessfully tried to eliminate it from the 1936 film version, and it has never been cut from any stage production.
• "Act I Finale"
• "At the Chicago World's Fair" — the Act II opening chorus, sometimes eliminated and never sung in a film version of the show (it was played instrumentally in the 1936 version).
• "Why Do I Love You?"
• "Bill" — lyrics co-written by Hammerstein and P. G. Wodehouse
• "After the Ball" — a song by Charles K. Harris from 1892

The instrumentation for the show according to the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett is one flute (doubling as piccolo), one oboe (doubling as English horn) , 2 clarinets, one bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, one trombone, percussion, one banjo, and strings.

[edit] Production history

Before the Broadway premiere of Show Boat, from November 15, 1927 until December 19, Ziegfeld produced tryouts at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Nixon Theatre in Pittsburgh, the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland, and thrice at the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia.^[1][2] The show opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York on December 27, 1927, where it ran for a year and a half.

Show Boat, with its serious and dramatic nature, was considered a turning point for producer Florenz Ziegfeld, who had previously been best known for revues such as the Follies. The scenic design for the original production was by Joseph Urban, who had worked with Ziegfeld for many years in his Follies, and had designed the elaborate new Ziegfeld Theatre itself.

After its closing in 1929, the show was revived on Broadway in 1932 (Casino Theatre), 1946 (return to the Ziegfeld Theatre), 1983 (Uris Theatre presented by Douglas Urbanski) and 1994 (at the same theatre). The 1994 production originated in Canada in 1993. Other American productions include one at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center in July 1966, and two at the New York City Center, in 1954 and 1961.

It has been produced on multiple occasions in West End, including a May 1928 production at the Drury Lane Theatre and at the Adelphi Theatre in July of 1971.^[3] It has also been revived by various repertory theatres in England, including productions by Opera North and the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[4]

Show Boat was also adapted as a movie on four occasions, in 1929, 1936 directed by James Whale, 1946 (as a mini-show inside the movie Till the Clouds Roll By), and 1951, and videotaped in live performance for television in 1989 at the Paper Mill Playhouse. The 1936 and 1951 films, as well as the television version, retained the miscegenation sequence; the 1929 film version did not. (See Show Boat (film)).

[edit] Radio productions

During the days of live radio, Show Boat was presented in that medium at least six times. There were four especially notable productions.

• One was presented and directed by Orson Welles, on his radio show Campbell Playhouse in 1939. This was a non-musical version of the story that, like the 1929 film, was based more closely on Edna Ferber's novel than on the musical. However, Helen Morgan, who had played the role of Julie in the musical, played her again in this version, although the one song that she sang on the broadcast was not from the musical. Orson Welles portrayed Cap'n Andy, Margaret Sullavan was heard as Magnolia, and author Edna Ferber made her acting debut as Parthy.

The presentation was exceptionally faithful to Ferber's novel, except for one change. Because interracial marriages were controversial as a radio subject, the character of Julie was changed from a mulatto married to a white man to merely an unmarried mulatto, whose mere presence on the boat is controversial despite the fact that she is single. Her ultimate fate as a prostitute, and her accidental encounter with Magnolia, both elements of Ferber's novel, were also left unmentioned.

• Another radio version, based on the stage musical, was presented on Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theatre in 1940, and featured Irene Dunne , Allan Jones, and Charles Winninger, who had all appeared in the 1936 film version. However, neither Helen Morgan nor Paul Robeson appeared on this program.

This production, like the 1929 film, also suffered from censorship, catering to the fears of radio and film producers of that era by completely omitting the subject of miscegenation, though, as in the show, the town sheriff does show up to arrest Julie (played by a non-singing Gloria Holden). Instead of being a woman of mixed blood who is illegally married to a white man, Julie in this production becomes an illegal alien who had served jail time and must now be deported!

The song "Bill" is totally eliminated, and it is Magnolia, not Julie, who, in this broadcast, sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". Only a fragment of the song "Ol' Man River" is heard in this production, despite the fact that Paul Robeson had appeared in the 1936 film and sang the song in its entirety there.

• Another radio version, condensed to just a half hour, was similarly squeamish about the racial angle. This one, presented in 1950 on a show called the Railroad Hour, starred Gordon MacRae, Dorothy Kirsten, and Lucille Norman. The miscegenation is not referred to at all, it is simply mentioned on the show that Julie and her husband have left the boat — no reason given. MacRae not only plays the role of gambler Gaylord Ravenal, but also sings Joe's song, "Ol' Man River".

• In 1952, Lux Radio Theatre presented Show Boat once again, this time based on the MGM film made in 1951 and featuring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel and William Warfield from the film's cast. Jay C. Flippen portrayed Cap'n Andy. One hopes that this version was more faithful than the previous one. At least it featured Warfield singing "Ol' Man River".

Significantly, three of these four radio versions completely omitted the characters of Joe and his wife, Queenie.

Still another radio version, broadcast in 1944,^[5] featured Kathryn Grayson playing Magnolia for the first time, and starring opposite her was Allan Jones, who had played Ravenal in the 1936 film version of the musical. Helen Forrest co-starred as Julie, Charles Winninger was again Cap'n Andy, Elvia Allman (the voice of Clarabelle Cow) was Parthy, and African-American film actor Ernest Whitman, who had appeared in the 1944 biographical film The Adventures of Mark Twain as a ship's stoker, was Joe.

Show Boat recently was produced in June 2006 by Raymond Gubbay at London's Royal Albert Hall, the first ever fully staged musical production in the history of this venue, directed by Francesca Zambello, and conducted by David Charles Abell.

[edit] Racism and Controversy

[edit] Integration

Show Boat boldly portrayed racial difficulties, and for a 1927 show it was quite progressive in doing so. It was the first racially integrated musical, in that both black and white performers appeared on stage together.^[6] Ziegfeld’s Follies allowed single African American performers like Bert Williams, but would never have had an African-American woman in the chorus. However, Showboat had two choruses — a black chorus and a white chorus, and it has been perceived that "Hammerstein uses the African-American chorus as essentially a Greek chorus, providing clear commentary on the proceedings, whereas the white choruses sing of the not-quite-real".^[7]

However, some assert that the simple fact that Show Boat contains numbers with blacks and whites on stage singing together does not mean it deserves to be credited as the "first racially integrated musical". According to a theatre studies graduate student at Cornell University,

Historians of American musical theater usually describe Show Boat as the first "integrated" musical without considering its complicated politics of race. Such assessments privilege Show Boat’s book and score while failing to situate these scenes and songs in theatrical performance or within the wider culture of the United States in 1927. When read in the context of its original Broadway production and reception, Show Boat begs the question of whether its integration – of book and numbers, of black and white characters and actors – can function apart from its politics and theatrics of segregation... the musical numbers in which black and white characters dance and sing in unison or in harmony, or those in which the performance of individual black characters (Julie, Joe, and Queenie) complicates cross-racial relationships and forms raced audiences. At the same time, the numbers limit the possibilities for black characters by denying them interiority and deploying them as spectacle for the sensory experience of the audience. Ultimately, Ziegfeld’s Show Boat thrives in memory on a myth of integration, gesturing toward exploding the integration/segregation dichotomy while cooperating in the racist politics that informs it. ^[8]

It was not until 1947's Finian's Rainbow that a Broadway musical was truly racially integrated.^[9]

[edit] Language and Stereotypes

The show has also come under much attack, primarily because of the use of the word nigger in the lyrics in the first scene, in addition to the historical portrayal of blacks serving as passive laborers and servants. The show opened with the black chorus trudging onstage and singing:

Niggers all work on the Mississippi.

Niggers all work while the white folks play —

Loadin' up boats wid de bales of cotton,

Gittin' no rest till de Judgement Day.^[10]

In subsequent productions, "nigger" has been changed to "colored folk," to "darkies" and in one choice, "Here we all," as in "Here we all work on the Mississippi. Here we all work while the white folk play." In the 1966 Lincoln Center production of the show, produced during the height of the Civil Rights struggle, this section of the opening chorus was completely omitted rather than simply having the lyric changed. The 1988 CD for EMI restored the original lyric, while the 1994 production chose "colored folk".

Despite these objections, however, others believe that the song was written by Kern and Hammerstein to give a sympathetic voice to an oppressed people through the ironic use of a word often used derogatorily against them, and that the word was used to dramatically alert the audience to the realities of racism:

'Show Boat begins with the singing of that most reprehensible word – nigger – yet this is no coon song... [it] immediately establishes race as one of the central themes of the play. This is a protest song, more ironic than angry perhaps, but a protest nonetheless. In the singers' hands, the word nigger has a sardonic tone... in the very opening, Hammerstein has established the gulf between the races, the privilege accorded the white folks and denied the black, and a flavor of the contempt built into the very language that whites used about African-Americans. This is a very effective scene.... These are not caricature roles; they are wise, if uneducated, people capable of seeing and feeling more than some of the white folk around them.^[11]

The racial situations in the play provoke thoughts of how hard it must have been to be black in the South. In the dialogue, some of the blacks are called "niggers" by the white characters in the story. (Contrary to what is sometimes thought, black slavery is not depicted in the play; slavery was abolished in 1863 and the story runs from the 1880's to the late 1920's.) At first, it is shocking to believe they are allowed to use a word that negative at all in a play.... But in the context in which it is used, it is appropriate due to the impact it makes. It reinforces how much of a derogatory term "nigger" was then and still is today.^[12]

Those that consider Show Boat racially insensitive also often note that the dialogue and lyrics of the black characters (especially the stevedore Joe and his wife Queenie) and choruses use various forms of African American Vernacular English. An effective example of this is shown in the following text:

Hey!

Where yo' think you're goin'?

Don't yo' know dis show is startin' soon?

Hey!

Jes' a few seats left yere!

It's light inside an' outside dere's no moon

What fo' you gals dressed up dicty?

Where's yo' all gwine?

Tell dose stingy men o' yourn

To step up here in line! ^[13]

Many critics would either respond that such language is not an accurate reflection of the vernacular of blacks in Mississippi at the time, or that it is in fact linguistically correct but that the overall effect of its usage, especially in light of prejudiced historically-white audiences in past productions, results in a potentially harmful racial stereotype.

Indeed, the character Queenie (who sings the above verses) was in the original production played not by an African-American but rather by the Italian-American actress Tess Gardella in blackface (Gardella was perhaps most well-known for portraying Aunt Jemima in blackface).^[14] In addition, some believe that the attempts of non-black writers to imitate black language stereotypically in songs like "Ol' Man River" and allege authenticity is offensive, a claim that was repeated eight years later by evaluators of Porgy and Bess.

"Ol' Man River" is not a Negro spiritual. It's a show tune cooked up in 1927 by a couple of middle-class honkies who needed something for a spot in the first act. Yes, Oscar Hammerstein's lyric is full of "dat" and "dese" (obviously, he was self-taught at Ebonics)... Hammerstein's is an unobtrusive craft, an artless art.^[15]

However, even many of those who denounce the stereotyping of blacks and black language admit that the intentions of Hammerstein were noble, since "'Ol' Man River' was the song in which he first found his lyrical voice, compressing the suffering, resignation, and anger of an entire race into 24 taut lines and doing it so naturally that it's no wonder folks assume the song's a Negro spiritual".^[16]

Many writers have also conceded that the novel contains caricatures of blacks, but believe that they were used by the author to scrutinize and criticize racism in the United States, since "cringe-worthy caricatures like Show Boat 's 'black men...with rolling eyes and great lips' exist alongside some very thoughtful explorations of American racism, including Show Boat 's sympathetic treatment of a mixed-race couple".^[17] For example, the theatre critics and veterans Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright believe that Show Boat was revolutionary, not only because it was a radical departure from the previous style of plotless revues, but because it was a show written by non-blacks that portrayed blacks sympathetically rather than condescendingly:

Instead of a line of chorus girls showing their legs in the opening number singing that they were happy, happy, happy, the curtain rose on black dock-hands lifting bales of cotton, and singing about the hardness of their lives. Here was a musical that showed poverty, suffering, bitterness, racial prejudice, a sexual relationship between black and white, a love story which ended unhappily — and of course show business. In "Ol' Man River" the black race was given an anthem to honor its misery that had the authority of an authentic spiritual.^[18]

[edit] Revisions and cancellations

Since the musical's 1927 premiere, Show Boat has both been condemned as a prejudiced show based on racial caricatures and championed as a breakthrough work that opened the door for public discourse in the arts about racism in America. In some occasions, productions (including one planned for June 2002 in Connecticut) have been cancelled because of objections.^[19]

However, such cancellations occasionally were met with negative reaction by supporters of the arts. After planned performances by an opera company in Middlesbrough, England were "stopped because [they] would be 'distasteful' to ethnic minorities", a local newspaper declared that the actions were "surely taking political correctness too far".^[20] A British theatre writer was concerned that

the kind of censorship we've been talking about — for censorship it is — actually militates against a truly integrated society, for it emphasises differences. It puts a wall around groups within society, dividing people by creating metaphorical ghettos, and prevents mutual understanding.^[21]

In addition, as attitudes toward race relations changed in later years, producers and directors often altered some content in order to make the musical more politically correct:

...Show Boat, more than many musicals, was subject to cuts and revisions within a handful of years after its first performance, all of which altered the dramatic balance of the play... ^[22]

[edit] 1993 Revival

Harold Prince's revival (opening in Toronto in 1993, and on Broadway in 1994), which was directed by Anne Allan, revitalized interest in the show by tightening the book, dropping and adding songs that had been cut in various productions, and highlighting the racial elements of the show. Throughout the production African-Americans constantly cleaned up the mess, moved the sets (even when hydraulics actually moved them), with their presence constantly commenting on the racial disparities.^[23] After a New Year's Eve ball, all the streamers fell on the floor and we saw African Americans busy sweeping them away. A montage in the second act showed time passing with the revolving door of the Palmer House in Chicago, and headlines going by in quick motion and then little snippets of slow motion to highlight a specific moment. African American dancers portrayed street dancers doing a dance and then time would pass and the fashionable white dancers had taken the dance.

During the production's stay in Toronto, many black community leaders and their supporters launched a massive opposition to the show, often mobilizing "black hecklers shouting insults and waving placards reading SHOW BOAT SPREADS LIES AND HATE and SHOW BOAT = CULTURAL GENOCIDE" in front of the theatre.^[24] Some sympathetic to the cause of those against the production also thought that it was ironic that a supposedly anti-black show was receiving attention and support while the actual black community in Toronto was facing economic and social problems, and that

[the] conclusion that the protest was "misguided" reveals [the] total lack of understanding of the social and political cleavages in North York. It suggests that those blacks protesting Show Boat are wasting their time, when they should be engaged in more pressing struggles for equality in education, employment and housing. The fact is these people are working toward those goals every day. The protesters are trustees, teachers, lawyers, social service workers, and, dare I say it, leaders in their community.^[25]

However, while Hal Prince's production of Show Boat was met by a storm of criticism in Toronto, various theatre critics in New York felt that Prince highlighted racial inequality in his production not to support it but rather to show its injustice, as well as the historical suffering of blacks. One way that this was done was

the inclusion of an absolutely beautiful piece of music cut from the original production and from the movie ["Mis'ry's Comin' Round"]... a haunting gospel melody sung by the black chorus. The addition of this number is so successful because it salutes the dignity and the pure talent of the black workers and allows them to shine for a brief moment on the center stage of the showboat.^[26]

Furthermore, during the 1993 Toronto protests, other observers decried the show's opponents for their own prejudices and racist attitudes, for many had supposedly stated that they viewed the show as a Jewish attempt to bring down blacks (both Kern and Hammerstein, in addition to director Hal Prince, were Jewish New Yorkers {cite}), and to many it seemed apparent that by labelling ethnic groups as racist, the protesters were guilty of the very thing that they were complaining about.^[27]

[edit] Analysis

Many commentators, both black and non-black, view the show as an outdated and stereotypical commentary on race relations that portrays blacks in a negative or inferior position. Douglass K. Daniel of Kansas State University has commented that it is a "racially flawed story",^[28] and the African-Canadian writer M. Nourbese Philip claims that

The affront at the heart of Show Boat is still very alive today. It begins with the book and its negative and one-dimensional images of Black people, and continues on through the colossal and deliberate omission of the Black experience, including the pain of a people traumatized by four centuries of attempted genocide and exploitation. Not to mention the appropriation of Black music for the profit of the very people who oppressed Blacks and Africans. All this continues to offend deeply. The 'ol' man river of racism continues to run through the history of these productions and is very much part of this (Toronto) production. It is part of the overwhelming need of white Americans and white Canadians to convince themselves of our inferiority — that our demands don't represent a challenge to them, their privilege and their superiority.^[29]

In general, many of the artistic and social supporters of the musical believe that the depictions of racism should be regarded not as stereotyping blacks but rather satirizing the common national attitudes that both held those stereotypes and reinforced them through discrimination. In other words, just as quoting an out-of-context line from a play and claiming that it is the view of the playwright is absurd and deceptive, in the view of many of Show Boat's defenders, the fact that a dramatic or literary work portrays racist attitudes and institutions does not mean that it endorses them — in the words of The New Yorker theatre critic John Lahr, "describing racism doesn't make Show Boat racist. The production is meticulous in honoring the influence of black culture not just in the making of the nation's wealth but, through music, in the making of its modern spirit." ^[30]

In addition, theatre history shows that leading Broadway writers had long used the musical as a medium to call for tolerance and racial harmony, such as in Finian's Rainbow and by Hammerstein himself in South Pacific. Those who attempt to understand works like Show Boat and Porgy and Bess through the eyes of their creators usually comprehend that the show

was a statement AGAINST racism. That was the point of Edna Ferber's novel. That was the point of the show. That's how Oscar wrote it.... I think this is about as far from racism as you can get.^[31]

Perhaps the strongest foundational argument in defense of Show Boat lies in an understanding of the socially concerned intentions, aims, and backgrounds of its authors. According to Rabbi Alan Berg, Kern and Hammerstein's score to Show Boat is "a tremendous expression of the ethics of tolerance and compassion."^[32] As Harold Prince (not Kern, to which the quote has been mistakenly attributed) states in the original production notes to his 1993 production of the show:

Throughout pre-production and rehearsal, I was committed to eliminate any inadvertent stereotype in the original material, dialogue which may seem "Uncle Tom" today.... However, I was determined not to rewrite history. The fact that during the 45-year period depicted in our musical there were lynchings, imprisonment, and forced labor of the blacks in the United States is irrefutable. Indeed, the United States still cannot hold its head high with regard to racism.^[33]

Oscar Hammerstein's commitment to idealizing and encouraging tolerance theatrically started with his libretto to Show Boat and can be seen clearly in his later works, many of which were written by Richard Rodgers. For example, Oklahoma! included a subplot regarding the community's debate over whether to accept a Persian and its treatment of a victimized man seen as representing blacks.^[34] Carmen Jones is an attempt to present a modern version of the classic French opera through the experiences of African-Americans during wartime, and South Pacific explores interracial marriage and prejudice. Finally, The King and I deals with different cultures' preconceived notions regarding each other and the possibility for cultural inclusiveness in societies.

Regarding the original author of Show Boat, Ann Shapiro states that

Edna Ferber was taunted for being Jewish; as a young woman eager to launch her career as a journalist, she was told that the Chicago Tribune did not hire women reporters. Despite her experience of antisemitism and sexism, she idealized America, creating in her novels an American myth where strong women and downtrodden men of any race prevail.... [Show Boat] create[s] visions of racial harmony... in a fictional world that purported to be America but was more illusion than reality. Characters in Ferber's novels achieve assimilation and acceptance that was periodically denied Ferber herself throughout her life.^[35]

Whether or not the show is racist itself, many contend that it is important to continue to be produced today because it serves as a history lesson of American race relations. According to African-American opera singer Phillip Lamar Boykin, who played the role of Joe in a 2000 tour,

Whenever a show deals with race issues, it gives the audience sweaty palms. I agree with putting it on the stage and making the audience think about it. We see where we came from so we don't repeat it, though we still have a long way to go. A lot of history would disappear if the show was put away forever. An artist must be true to an era. I'm happy with it.^[36]

[edit] Trivia

The name of Magnolia's daughter, "Kim", derives from the fact that she was born at the exact moment that the Cotton Blossom was at the convergence of the states of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. Ferber herself, in the book, calls the sound of the name "uneuphonious". The name did not become a popular name for American children for more than three decades after the publishing of the book.

The idea for Show Boat is derived not necessarily from the Mississippi River, but from Edna Ferber's own experiences aboard a showboat on the Pamlico River and Great Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina called the James Addams Floating Theatre. These experiences themselves were touched off when a business acquaintance of Ferber's said, during a party after the premiere of Ferber's Old Man Minick, that the next time he was involved in a play, he would not waste time on off-Broadway tryouts but would instead rent a showboat on which to test the show. Ferber was then interested in showboats and did a great deal of research on them.

• theatre:Ziegfeld Theatre
• opening:December 27, 1927
• Tony nominations:N/A
• Tony awards: N/A

author(s):Music by Jerome Kern;

• lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II;
• based on the novel by Edna Ferber;
• additional lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse;
• additional music & lyrics by Joseph E. Howard and Charles K. Harris;
• director:Oscar Hammerstein II (general) and Zeke Colvan (stage manager)
  

Original cast:

• Norma Terris — Magnolia Hawks and her daughter Kim (as an adult)
• Howard Marsh — Gaylord Ravenal
• Charles Winninger — Cap'n Andy Hawks
• Jules Bledsoe — Joe
• Helen Morgan — Julie LaVerne
• Edna May Oliver — Parthy Ann Hawks
• Sammy White (actor) — Frank Schultz
• Eva Puck — Ellie May Chipley
• Tess Gardella — Queenie
  

Orchestrator: Robert Russell Bennett
Conductor: Victor Baravalle

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  Vancheri, Barbara (August 23, 1998). "'Show Boat' continues successful voyage". Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 6, 2006.
2. ↑  Kreuger, Miles (1977). Show Boat: The Story of a Classic American Musical. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 226–227.
3. ↑  Ibid.
4. ↑  See note 1.
5. ↑  See note 2.
6. ↑  Despite its technical correctness, that Show Boat deserves this title has been disputed by some. See note #5 and corresponding text.
7. ↑  Keeling, Richard (a.k.a. musickna) (December 8, 2005). Music — "Show Boat". Blogger.com. Retrieved January 2, 2006.
8. ↑  Holmes, Brian (2003). "Color by Numbers: Show Boat as Segregated Musical". American Society for Theatre Research. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
9. ↑  Lane, John (2005). "John Lane's Notes on Music & Other Artistic Pleasures". Retrieved January 5, 2006.
10. ↑  Hammerstein, Oscar II (1927). Show Boat (Original Libretto — Book and Lyrics). In "Collection of Musicals Lyrics and Libretti". Number 2 (Act One, Scene One).
11. ↑  See note #4.
12. ↑  Cronin, Patricia (June 1997). "Timeless 'Show Boat' just keeps on rolling along". Retrieved January 5, 2006.
13. ↑  See note 7. Number 13 (Act One, Scene Five)
14. ↑  Tess Gardella. The Actresses of Italian Origin Notebook. Retrieved January 14, 2006.
15. ↑  Steyn, Mark (December 5, 1997). "Where Have You Gone, Oscar Hammerstein?". Slate. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
16. ↑  Ibid.
17. ↑  Wilson, Mollie (May 6, 2005). "So Big". Nextbook. Retrieved December 31, 2005.
18. ↑  Eyre, Richard; & Wright, Nicholas. Changing Stages: A View of British and American Theater in the Twentieth Century. Random House. Retrieved December 31, 2005.
19. ↑  Norvell, Scott; & S., Jon (March 18, 2002). "The Show Can't Go On". Fox News. Retrieved January 2, 2006.
20. ↑  Lathan, Peter (October 24, 1999). "A More Subtle Form of Censorship". The British Theatre Guide. Retrieved January 14, 2006.
21. ↑  Ibid.
22. ↑  See note #4.
23. ↑  Saviola, Gerard C. (April 1, 1997). "SHOW BOAT — Review of 1994 production". American Studies at University of Virginia. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
24. ↑  Henry, William A. III (Nov. 01, 1993). "Rough Sailing for a New Show Boat". TIME.
25. ↑  Anderson, Scott (Nov. 11, 1993). "SHOW COVERAGE IS MISSING THE BOAT". Eye.
26. ↑  See note #20.
27. ↑  Briggs, Joe Bob (May 7, 1993). Joe Bob Goes to the Drive In. The Joe Bob Report.
28. ↑  Daniel, Douglass K. "They Just Keep Rolling Along: Images of Blacks in Film Versions of Show Boat". Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Minorities and Communication Division. Retrieved December 31, 2005.
29. ↑  Philip, M. Nourbese (1993). Showing Grit: Showboating North of the 44th Parallel (2nd ed.). Out of print. pg. 59. Retrieved December 13, 2005.
30. ↑  Bows, Bob. "Show Boat". Coloradodrama.com. Retrieved February 2, 2006.
31. ↑  See note #24.
32. ↑  Laporte, Elaine (Feb. 9, 1996). Why do Jews sing the blues?. The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California.
33. ↑ 
34. ↑  Gomberg, Alan (February 16, 2004). Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical — Book Review. What's New on the Rialto?. Retrieved January 6, 2006.
35. ↑  Shapiro, Ann R (2001). "Edna Ferber, Jewish American Feminist". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 20, #2, pp. 52–60.
36. ↑  Shapiro, Margaret. "Facing The Music — A Revival Of 'Show Boat' Confronts The Production's Historical Racism". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved February 2, 2006.