Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s Show Boat, a milestone in the history of musical theatre, was the first musical to merge a traditional show biz story with serious drama. Premiered in 1927 it has been revived and revised constantly ever since. The present production, extremely well sung, directed by Daniel Evans, choreographed by Alistair David and designed by Lez Brotherson, originated at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.
Show Boat deals with social conditions, racial tensions, marital discord, alcoholism and miscegenation. Hammerstein II and Kern wanted their musical to be taken seriously. Paul Robeson who was forever associated with that powerful anthem, “Ol’ Man River’, sang it for the first time at the London premiere in 1928.
The bitter-sweet love story is adapted from Edna Ferber’s complex romantic novel, which traces the lives of a family of showboat performers over four decades, from the 1880s on the Mississippi River to Chicago in the 1920s.
The weakness is the book. There are far too many leading characters and by concentrating on everybody the show succeeds in concentrating on nobody. Audiences, however, will be coming for the songs, not the story, and to hear Gina Beck and Chris Peluso sing “Only Make Believe” and “Why Do I Love You?”; Rebecca Trehearn sing “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” and “Bill”; and Emmanuel Kojo sing “Ol’ Man River”.