NYT: Why ‘Show Boat’ Is America’s Most Enduring, Unstable Musical — Page 2

I saw this the other night. I went in expecting an experimental, pointed commentary on Show Boat based on the show blurb, the title change, and the NYT article. Instead, this was just a poorly executed, badly conceived, confusingly directed, ultimately straightforward production of Show Boat.

Now before anyone cries anti-racism (too late, eye roll), the “white” sashes/buttons are mainly used for the audience to keep track which characters are white. Yes, the white actors also wear them. There’s so much doubling in the small cast that it’s just so confusing. The messy doubling was way more offensive than any commentary on race. Parthy is played by two actors simultaneously and side-by-side, and one of these actors also plays Queenie. It seems like everyone, including Magnolia, plays Windy at some point, which wouldn’t matter if he weren’t constantly referenced and also pivotal in the miscegenation scene. The only character the white sashes/buttons work for is obviously Julie. The sashes themselves were so ill-fitting and kept falling off the actors’ shoulders.

I know Show Boat pretty well. Very little was rewritten, so it’s confusing why the director is given an adaptation credit (hardly the first director to make their own cuts and edits to this show). There are two new songs (one replaces “After the Ball,” and I’m wondering if that isn’t in public domain due to it being written by other writers). The other is the song sung by the Black actors, but they are all facing inward toward each other and it literally starts with the Lioness Chant from The Lion King. If it’s meant to celebrate Black joy, it alienated the audience by not including them, but maybe that’s the point.

I guess I was just super bummed and disappointed by this. I happen to like Show Boat. It has a glorious score and the authors were so progressive and pushed the envelope with audience comfortability regarding the race theme. Yes, some things are outdated, after all the show is about 100 years old. There are shows not five years old that haven’t aged well. Show Boat has great bones, but this bare-bones production doesn’t show it or even make any coherent commentary on it.

"After the Ball" is definitely public domain since it was written in the 1890s.

HeyMrMusic said: "There are two new songs (one replaces “After the Ball,” and I’m wondering if that isn’t in public domain due to it being written by other writers). The other is the song sung by the Black actors, but they are all facing inward toward each other and it literally starts with the Lioness Chant fromThe Lion King. If it’s meant to celebrate Black joy, it alienated the audience by not including them, but maybe that’s the point."

Thanks for this detailed review--I remain fascinated to hear about this production.

I am pretty sure that second number is In Dahomey, which as mentioned earlier, apparently now starts with actual Zulu lyrics (which kinda ruins Hammerstein's ironic point of the song, but as discussed earlier, that point has been very hard to carry off and I don't know of any modern productions that have used the song since the 1946 revival and long running tour--which is too bad, as I love it musically.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-M5-fafnA4

Edit: that's from the magnificent complete McGlinn recording which has one fault--the lyrics in chorus numbers are often incoherent unless you know them (to be fair, I suspect this was partly true of the original 1927 performances too). You can hear the lyrics a bit better in the only other recording I know of the song, the JAY recording of the complete revised 1946 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-M5-fafnA4

Updated On: 1/14/25 at 10:28 PM

EricMontreal22 said: "
Edit: that's from the magnificent complete McGlinn recording which has one fault--the lyrics in chorus numbers are often incoherent unless you know them (to be fair, I suspect this was partly true of the original 1927 performances too). You can hear the lyrics a bit better in the only other recording I know of the song, the JAY recording of the complete revised 1946 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-M5-fafnA4
"

I'm very very grateful for that recording, but it's seriously flawed by the use of opera singers whose voices are just wrong for the material, even given the connection to operetta the score unquestionably has. The tempi are also frustratingly sedate, no matter how authentic. Pick up the pace!

Jesse Green review

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/theater/show-boat-under-the-radar.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk4.WKdm.fN5BJRTEfHa1

Saw this last night and pretty much agree with the reviews. I don’t really have much to add to what they said but I did manage to stay through the whole thing, which I’m proud of myself for doing.

So many decisions made on that stage for style over substance… and actually weren’t stylish at all. Why was Parthy Ann played by two actors simultaneously? Why did all the actors abandon their pins 2/3 into act 2… but then a couple sashes come back? What exactly was the concept here? It seemed a bit like it was supposed to be a show-within-a-show but we never quite understood what the framing device was.

I’ve only ever seen the movie. By over emphasizing the race of the characters with sashes/pins you’d think this has something huge and sweeping to say about race. But it’s mostly a melodrama 42nd St / Funny Girl story (yes I know this obviously precedes both of those). This really felt like theater for theater’s sake and didn’t have anything coherent or new to say.

raddersons said: "So many decisions made on that stage for style over substance… and actually weren’t stylish at all. Why was Parthy Ann played by two actors simultaneously? Why did all theactors abandon their pins 2/3 into act 2… but thena couple sashes come back? What exactly was the concept here? It seemed a bit like it was supposed to be a show-within-a-show but we never quite understood what the framing device was.

I’veonly ever seen the movie. By over emphasizing the race of the characters with sashes/pinsyou’d think this has something huge and sweeping to say about race. But it’s mostly a melodrama 42nd St / Funny Girl story (yes I know this obviously precedes both of those). This really felt like theater for theater’ssake and didn’t have anything coherent or new to say."

To me, Show Boat does say something huge and sweeping about race. It doesn't say it in contemporary 21st century terms, but I think it's clearly saying something about our collective humanity, and recognizing/embracing/respecting Black people as being as participatory in our story ("our story" meaning both show business, and what show business sybolizes in this work, America) as white people have always been acknowledged for, that discrimiation is cruel and that erasing Black people from sight/history is unacceptable. It may not spend the majority of its running time making this point, but it seems to me it is the biggest point made, and that this message informs nearly all the crucial scenes.