The Blog o Bek: Broadway Palm's Main Stage Presents SHOWBOAT!!!

Showboat

THE BROADWAY MASTERPIECE “SHOW BOAT”

SETS SAIL AT BROADWAY PALM!

FORT MYERS, Fla – December 31, 2015 – Broadway Palm is proud to present Show Boat playing now through February 14, 2016. Come aboard for the Broadway masterpiece that combines unforgettable songs, dazzling choreography and a story that moves us with its humanity.

Show Boat spans almost 50 years from 1880 to 1927 and follows the lives, loves and heartbreaks of three generations of riverboat performers, while illuminating the racial and social changes that were shaping the country. The main story follows the captain’s daughter, Magnolia, who marries a gambler and moves to Chicago only to be abandoned by him and left alone with their young daughter. As time passes, Magnolia and her daughter are reunited with their family on the show boat and her estranged husband returns with hope for a second chance. The timeless score includes Ol’ Man River, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man and Make Believe.
Get your tickets today for Show Boat playing now through February 14, 2016 at Broadway Palm. Ticket prices range from $39 to $62 with discounts for children and groups of 20 or more. Tickets are now on sale and can be reserved by calling (239) 278-4422, by visiting www.BroadwayPalm.com or by stopping by the box office at 1380 Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers.

BACK STORY:

Music by Jerome Kern | Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Based on the novel "Show Boat" | By Edna Ferber

Show Boat is a 1951 Multi-racial, American musical romantic drama film based on the stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern(music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (script and lyrics), and the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber. This 1951 film version, by MGM, was adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin, and was produced by Arthur Freed and directed by George Sidney.

Filmed previously in 1929 and in 1936.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Boat_(1951_film)

~The aspects of the original stage version dealing with racial inequality, especially the story line concerning miscegenation, were highly "sanitized" and de-emphasized in the 1951 film, although the interracial subplot was retained:

During the miscegenation scene (in which Julie's husband is supposed to suck blood from her hand so that he can truthfully claim that he has "Negro" blood in him), he is seen pricking her finger with what looks like a sewing pin, rather than using an ominous-looking switchblade, as in the play and the 1936 film, to cut her hand with.
The role of Queenie, the black cook (an uncredited Frances E. Williams), has been reduced to literally a bit part, and she practically disappears from the story after the first ten minutes, unlike the character in all stage versions and Hattie McDaniel in the 1936 film version. The role of Joe the stevedore (played by the then-unknown William Warfield) is also substantially reduced in the 1951 film, especially in comparison to Paul Robeson, whose screen time playing the same role in the 1936 film had been markedly increased because he was now a major star.
In the 1936 version of Show Boat, as well as the stage version, Queenie remarks that it is strange to hear Julie singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" because only black people know the song, thereby foreshadowing the revelation of Julie's mixed blood. This remark is completely left out of the MGM version, as is the term colored folks, which Queenie uses.
Some of the more controversial lines of the song "Ol' Man River" (one of them being "Don't look up and don't look down; you don't dast make the white boss frown") are no longer heard, and Queenie and Joe do not sing their section of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", as they do in all stage versions and in the 1936 film.
There is no African-American chorus in the 1951 version, and the levee workers are not seen nearly as much in the 1951 film as in the 1936 one. An offscreen, "disembodied" chorus is heard during "Ol' Man River", instead of the usual group of dock workers who are supposed to accompany stevedore Joe in the song. The same type of chorus is heard later, in a choral reprise of "Make Believe" accompanying a montage which shows the increasing success of Magnolia and Ravenal as actors on the boat, and again at the end of the movie, in Warfield's final reprise of "Ol' Man River".

MY REVIEW: Rogers and Hammerstein did it again. FABULOUS music and as you see above, as time passes for the production to be filmed a lot of controversial changes have either been made or glossed over. I'll be so darn happy when 'politically correctness' goes away. It's a HUGE pain in most of the patoots I've been in contact with. So stupid to keep pushing it out in front of everyone. Move ON, people!

Just a word about the costuming.. this is what the girls are packing around for hours..: Bra, Undies (Granny Panties??), Tights, Bloomers, Camisole, Corset, 4 layered petticoat, Bustle, Blouse, Skirt Over skirt, Jacket, Mic pack and hot, heavy wigs. (several of the actors have done productions featuring outdoor drama in period pieces dresses. “Corsets ain't for sissies either.”

MY DEEPEST kudos to and a positive congratulate nod to John Paul White (Dutch Apple) and Jimmy and his crew as in keeping it as an "authentic period piece" . And the yards and miles of ruffles are incredible!

Thank John Paul White for the authenticiy of the costuming.. amazing.. the voices: not one that is weak, the wigs are wicked cool and acting and dancing flawless.. ROCK ON, EVERYONE!!!