PBS to air Lincoln Center Show Boat Friday — Page 2

I like Norm Lewis, but not in this. He is not vocally right for Joe. Ol' Man River needs a voice that rings. I saw the '94 revival, the Washington National Opera (the SF Opera production), and what's currently airing on PBS. No one will ever come close to Michel Bell's Joe in the '94 revival. To me that particular production was perfect in my book.

Updated On: 10/16/15 at 11:09 PM

Uneven, but overall a respectful, if not inspired, presentation of the material. The camera work was quite splendid.

Norm was totally miscast. Someone like Phillip Boykin would've been better.

I thought Ovenden was stunning. So handsome and doesn't just sing like an opera guy, he has charm and such for days.

Highlight for me was "Bill". It was Williams' best moment and I also have always loved how the score has no piano until that scene where a character plays piano and it is featured for only that song. It really makes the song standout in a beautiful way. It was neat to see the Philharmonic be only the backup for the piano in that number.

I finished a few minutes late and enjoyed the evening. I thought Lauren Worsham and Julian Ovenden were splendid together. Their notes (with him singing the melody with her) at the end of You Are Love...stunning. I agree that Norm Lewis wasn't correct as Joe. I love this score and I thought this concert was a safe but enjoyable presentation.

It was all very eh for me. The staging and choreography was baffling at times! But I still overall enjoyed it since it was my first time experiencing the show rather than just the score.

I also think that Kad summed it up succinctly. My best comparison is with the 1994 Hal Prince revival, and this Lincoln Center production just seems much smaller in comparison. Of course it was much smaller in terms of cast size and stage space. Everyone agrees that Norm Lewis can't approach the vocals of Paul Robeson or Michel Bell. (1994. I read somewhere that Bell has made a career out of playing Joe in regional and local productions.) But Norm has to stand out on that stage by himself while Bell had a dozen fellow river laborers as a chorus.

I think my favorite scene in the Prince production was the pantry scene, in which Julie (Lonette McKee) and then Queenie (Gretha Boston), both in high spirits, take on "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" before the large chorus takes over while the principals dance joyfully and a bit raggedly. Lincoln Center had no 70 person cast and not enough stage room to hold them if there were.

Both "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from 1994 are up on YouTube.

There's also a seven and a half minute highlights clip from San Francisco Opera. You can see right away the quality of the vocals and of the overall production. But sometimes there is a price to be paid. Julie has a strong voice, but seems about twenty years too old and forty pounds too heavy to be a leading lady.

Updated On: 10/20/15 at 01:29 AM

I thought it was just okay. Norm Lewis has no business singing the part of Joe, though.

I also think it's weird when a separate actress plays grown-up Kim and they give her an entire number.

I don't understand why it is now required for a black actress to play Julie. It defeats the whole purpose of her passing as a white woman. Did this start with Cleo Laine in that London production?

It's not that new a notion. They originally wanted Lena Horne for 1951 movie.

Updated On: 10/20/15 at 09:03 PM

Is it wrong that I actually really really enjoyed Williams' performance of "Bill," and that it's now one of my favorite renditions of the done to death song??

I actually agree, she was mostly terrible in the book scenes. But that one song really worked for me.

Thanks for the info, especially on the orchestration, which I hadn't noticed. Orchestrators never get enough credit.

Odd to me that this one closing song in Show Boat, never used even in the original production, and only recorded in John Mclinn's three CD blockbuster, which probably never broke the top 500 in sales, is so well known by so many. These are the liner notes on the CD recording:

This is the seldom heard and almost never performed song "It's Getting Hotter In The North." The lengthy number was dropped somewhere between the first Washington performance and the Broadway premiere, and was never used again. The number was set in the present (1927) and was led by Broadway star Kim Ravenal, featuring most of the cast in an array of specialty dances. The original Kim, Norma Terris, allegedly refused to sing it, so the authors replaced it with her specialty imitations act, set to the tune of "Why Do I Love You" from earlier in the play. In most modern productions the character of Kim is barely featured at all, so this number is naturally not used. This is also the only known recording.

I have trouble believing that Wm. Hammerstein or any one else could have influenced Hal Prince in not using "Hotter" given his great prestige and the size of his revival. It ran for 957 performances and set a new top ticket price of $75.00. Maybe he cut it for time. In a three hour show, even saving five minutes must seem useful. Somebody tweet Rebecca Luker.

Updated On: 11/10/15 at 03:00 AM

Found this NY Times article about the McGlinn recording, where William Hammerstein also (foolishly) argues against the inclusion/reinstatement of "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun'". If Jerome Kern wanted the song to be dropped, he wouldn't have had it published in the score, and it wouldn't have been the dominant motif of the original Overture.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/25/theater/show-boat-makes-new-waves.html?pagewanted=all

Updated On: 11/10/15 at 03:04 PM