The Evolution and Importance of Showboat

The Evolution and Importance of Show Boat

Primary forms of entertainment:VaudevilleRevuesLight musical comediesAll of these made a mark on the identity of American entertainment, providing hit songs and talented artistsNotable examplesZiegfelds Follies Al Jolsons minstrel shows

Before Show Boathttp://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical030.html2What these forms of entertainment lacked was a central story or the meaningful integration of the various art formsUsually, a producer would have a star or group of stars whose talents were supposed to be highlighted in a light, fun showStories would normally involve common tropesBoy meets girl, falls in loveVillain meets his endBeautiful chorus girls in large extravagant musical numbersBefore Showboat

Ziegfelds Follies often involved large numbers with extravagantly dressed chorus girls and lavish sets. A few efforts were made to break out of the moldThe Princess Theatre Shows in the 1920s focused on providing more intimate, informal entertainment with small casts and no big stars Musicals tapped into more innovative material like dream psychology, American history, and American literatureThe most successful and influential of these efforts was the musical play Show BoatBefore Show BoatThe novelShow Boat was originally a book by Edna FerberShe spent weeks on the James Adams Floating Palace Theater in Bath, NC to research the disappearing entertainment venue of the river showboatThe book became a best-sellerJerome Kern approached Ferber with the hope of adapting it as a musical

Jerome Kern teamed up with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II to set the novel to musicThey auditioned the material for producer Florenz Ziegfeld, who remarked

This is the best musical comedy I have ever been fortunate to get a hold of; I am thrilled to produce it, this show is the opportunity of my lifeTurning it into a Musicalhttp://broadwayscene.com/tag/show-boat/7Turning it into a Musical

Jerome Kern, music

Oscar Hammerstein II, lyrics

Florenz Ziegfeld, producerUnlike most other shows at the time, Show Boat took over a year to make, evident by the dates of the typescriptsThe music was written to complement the characters situation within the storyMost famous songs: Ol Man River, Cant Help Lovin Dat ManStarted a new genre that would come to be known as the book musicalTurning it into a MusicalAdapting a story from a novel meant that the musical dealt with large issues through complex characters and a strong plotThemes dealt with in Show Boat:Interracial marriageComplications in marriageRacial tensions (Show Boat was actually the first racially integrated musical)Major Themeshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s

This song reflects on the wisdom of the great river, which just keeps rollin along no matter what troubles it or the people around it experienceIt also reflects on the hardships that blacks endured during this timeOl Man River(1936)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5owzfuvE2k(1994) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdkWyH7qGdE

The mulatto woman sings this in response to Magnolia saying she can unlove the man she likes if she wants. It is normally sung by the blacks in the community, reflecting their culture.

Cant Help Lovin Dat ManZiegfeld previewed the production in a tour before showing it on the Broadway stage at his own Ziegfeld TheatreIt opened on Broadway on December 27, 1927It was a success and ran for 572 performancesNew York Times critic Brooks Atkinson called the production one of unimpeachable skill and tasteRun & ReceptionShow Boat has been revived many times and won many awardsHal Prince particularly wanted to bring attention to the racial disparities that the show portraysThe black actors were seen in front of the audience cleaning up messes, appearing to move the sets, and doing menial jobsModern technology was used to enhance the show and make the scene changes more fluidThere was a revolving door that rotated to indicate a time period of almost five decades passing1994 Hal Prince Revival

Hal Princes 1993 revival of Show Boat made use of better technology and techniques to give new life to the story. It proved that this story is just as poignant as it was in the 1920s. Once the book musical was proven to be a successful and meaningful method to entertainment, others followed suitShow Boat allowed a musical like Oklahoma!, which also had lyrics by Hammerstein, to take the country by storm and usher American musical theatre into its Golden AgeThe Future of the Musicalhttp://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/07/08/musical-month-show-boathttp://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical030.htmlhttp://broadwayscene.com/broadway-history-the-golden-age-of-the-american-book-musical-part-3-show/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/showboat/sbreview.htmlhttp://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/showboat.htm

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