Show Boat (Harold Prince Version)

Show Boat (Harold Prince Version)

Show Boat (Harold Prince Version)

Music by Jerome Kern
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Based on the novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber

Show Boat (Harold Prince Version)

Show Boat (Harold Prince Version)

Music by Jerome Kern
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Based on the novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber

Overview

Since its premiere in 1927, Show Boat has never stopped moving. For over seven decades, this seminal musical has continued to evolve on a journey that has reflected the ongoing development of the lyric theatre, confirming its status as the pivotal work bridging operetta and contemporary musical theatre. After three film versions, numerous Broadway and London revivals, countless tours and several recordings, legendary director Harold Prince took the helm for a new Broadway production in 1994 that instantly became the blockbuster hit of the season. With Oscar Hammerstein's eldest son William serving as advisor, Prince studied all previous versions of Show Boat and, with the celebrated choreographer Susan Stroman, developed a version of the classic that was hailed as a triumph by critics and audiences alike.

Spanning the years from 1880 to 1927, this lyrical masterpiece, centered around the Mississippi show boat Cotton Blossom, concerns the lives, loves and heartbreaks of three generations of show folk and their lifelong friends. Show Boat follows the story of the Hawkes family, including the captain’s naive daughter Magnolia, who wants to be a performer, as she marries a gambler and moves with him to Chicago. When his debts compound, he deserts her and their young daughter. Magnolia's selfless best friend Julie, a performer on the Cotton Blossom, faces arrest on charges of miscegenation, which is illegal, and she spirals into despair. The passing of time reunites Magnolia and her now-grown daughter with Magnolia's estranged husband, who returns offering a second chance at familial happiness.

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Details

  • Genre: Adaptation (Literature), Period, Docudrama/History
  • Time Period: 1920s, 1910s/WWI, 1900-1910, 19th Century
  • Cast Attributes: Multicultural Casting, Roles for Children, Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
  • Target Audience: Appropriate for All Audiences, Adult

Authors

Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Hammerstein II was born on July 12, 1895 in New York City. His father, William, was a theatre manager and for many years director of Hammerstein's Victoria, the most popular vaudeville theatre of its day. His uncle, Arthur Hammerstein, was a successful Broadway producer ...

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Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern (1885-1945) composed his first complete show, The Red Petticoat, in 1912. Between 1915 and 1919, he composed a series of intimate chamber musicals, mostly in collaboration with Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, known as the Princess Theatre shows. These works — Very ...

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Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber (1887-1968) was an American novelist and playwright whose camera-like regional descriptions and vigorous portraiture of ordinary men and women made her one of the most popular authors of the early 20th century. Her first professional writing was done for newspaper ...

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