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96-402: The musical was first produced in 1927 by Florenz Ziegfeld . The premiere of Show Boat on Broadway was an important event in the history of American musical theatre. It "was a radical departure in musical storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness", compared with the trivial and unrealistic operettas , light musical comedies and "Follies"-type musical revues that defined Broadway in

192-466: A serialized version in the magazine Woman's Home Companion ( WHC ). The complete book was released in August 1926 by Doubleday, Page and Company before the magazine series finished the following September. The work was unusual content for a women's magazine of the period, with its inclusion of taboo subjects like infidelity, desertion, single motherhood, prostitution, gambling, and miscegenation . It

288-592: A 1933 West Coast production, joined by tenor Allan Jones as Ravenal. Show Boat was revived by Ziegfeld on Broadway in 1932 at the Casino Theatre with most of the original cast, but with Paul Robeson as Joe and Dennis King as Ravenal. In 1946, a major new Broadway revival was produced by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II at the show's original home, the Ziegfeld Theatre. The 1946 revival featured

384-467: A backing producer, as they felt only he could mount a production large enough in scale to successfully portray Ferber's story. They were aware that Show Boat , with its serious and dramatic nature, was an unusual choice for Ziegfeld, who was best known for revues featuring romantic comedy, such as the Ziegfeld Follies . Kern and Hammerstein worked to craft a piece that would sufficiently fill

480-434: A cost of $ 2.5 million, Ziegfeld built the 1600-seat Ziegfeld Theatre on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets. Designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas W. Lamb , the auditorium was egg-shaped, with the stage at the narrow end. A huge medieval-style mural, The Joy of Life , covered the walls and ceiling. To finance the construction, Ziegfeld borrowed from William Randolph Hearst , who took control of

576-404: A daughter, Kim, and after years of varying income, they are broke and rent a room in a boarding house. Depressed over his inability to support his family, Ravenal abandons Magnolia and Kim, but first visits his daughter at the convent where she goes to school to say goodbye before leaving her forever ("Make Believe" (reprise)). Frank and Ellie, two former actors from the showboat, learn that Magnolia

672-427: A hit with the crowds and have fallen in love. As the levee workers hum "Ol' Man River" in the background, he proposes to Magnolia, and she accepts. The couple joyously sings " You Are Love ". They make plans to marry the next day while Parthy, who disapproves, is out of town. Parthy has discovered that Ravenal once killed a man and arrives with the sheriff to interrupt the wedding festivities. The group learns that Ravenal

768-531: A nightclub, the Trocadero , to profit from the 1893 World's Fair . To help his father's nightclub succeed, Ziegfeld hired and managed the strongman Eugen Sandow . In London, during a trip to Europe, Ziegfeld met Anna Held , a Polish-French singer of Jewish descent. His promotion of Held in America brought about her meteoric rise to national fame. It was Held who first suggested an American imitation of

864-668: A previous lung infection. He had been in Los Angeles only a few days after moving from a New Mexico sanitarium. His death left Burke with substantial debts, driving her toward film acting to settle them. She died on May 14, 1970. He and Burke are interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York . Ziegfeld was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame . Ziegfeld appears in a sound prologue to

960-465: A revised score and new song by Kern and Hammerstein, and a new overture and orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett. The show was directed by Hammerstein and Hassard Short and featured Jan Clayton (Magnolia), Charles Fredricks (Ravenal), Carol Bruce (Julie), Kenneth Spencer (Joe), Helen Dowdy (Queenie), and Buddy Ebsen (Frank). Kern died just weeks before the January 5, 1946 opening, making it

1056-418: A semi-biographical film extravaganza, The Great Ziegfeld , starring William Powell . He was personally chosen for the role by Billie Burke, who felt that while Powell did not physically resemble her late husband, he possessed the right manner. "What I tried to do primarily was to get across the essential spirit of the man", Powell later said, "his love for show business, his exquisite taste, his admiration for

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1152-636: A similar fictionalised parody of Ziegfeld is Victor Feldzieg, producer of Feldzieg's Follies . The Academy Film Archive houses the Florenz Ziegfeld-Billie Burke Collection. The collection consists primarily of home movies. Pamlico River The Pamlico / ˈ p æ m l ɪ k oʊ / River is a tidal river that flows into Pamlico Sound , in North Carolina in the United States. It

1248-441: A taste of her performing abilities by singing an updated, Charleston version of "Why Do I Love You?" Ravenal sings a reprise of "You Are Love" to the offstage Magnolia. Although he is uncertain about asking her to take him back, Magnolia, who has never stopped loving him, greets him warmly and does. As the happy couple walks up the boat's gangplank, Joe and the cast sing the last verse of "Ol' Man River". The 1951 MGM film changed

1344-456: A touch of genius. It is not merely his voice, which is one of the richest organs on the stage. It is his understanding that gives 'Old Man River' an epic lift. When he sings ... you realize that Jerome Kern's spiritual has reached its final expression." After closing at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1929, the original production toured extensively. The national company is notable for including Irene Dunne as Magnolia. Hattie McDaniel played Queenie in

1440-484: A way that was not done in Ferber's novel. Julie's song " Bill " became a "musical and emotional high point" in the production. Upon hearing Act I of Show Boat , Ziegfeld was impressed with the show and agreed to produce it, writing the next day, "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 life". Though Ziegfeld planned to stage

1536-660: A year and a half, for a total of 572 performances. The production's direction was credited to Zeke Colvan at the time it premiered, but Oscar Hammerstein II, who remained uncredited, was also responsible for much of the show's staging. Choreography for the show was by Sammy Lee. The original cast included Norma Terris as Magnolia Hawks and her daughter Kim (as an adult), Howard Marsh as Gaylord Ravenal, Helen Morgan as Julie LaVerne, Jules Bledsoe as Joe, Charles Winninger as Cap'n Andy Hawks, Edna May Oliver as Parthy Hawks, Sammy White as Frank Schultz, Eva Puck as Ellie May Chipley, and Tess Gardella as Queenie. The orchestrator

1632-541: Is a confident woman who, with pluck and determination, succeeds in business without the help of a man. While the character marries, it is a failed marriage, and she rises above the weaknesses of her romantic partner who leaves her through tragic circumstances. Magnolia's domineering mother Parthy was based on Ferber's own mother, Julia Ferber, and Parthy and Captain Andy's marriage was modeled on her own parents' marriage. Show Boat departed from Ferber's earlier writings in that it

1728-440: Is described as a white woman gifted with the singing voice of a black vocalist. Musicologist Todd Decker stated, "Magnolia's embrace of show business as a means to survive as a single mother is directly linked to Ferber's use of black music to characterize her heroine. Magnolia's black voice thus proves a defining aspect of Ferber's main character and a central pillar of the novel's structure and larger themes. Magnolia's story and

1824-683: Is formed by the confluence of the Tar River and Tranters Creek. The historic Tuscarora tribe , an Iroquoian -language group originally from western New York, had been well established in North Carolina, including along the Pamlico River, before European contact. The encroachment of settlers and their selling Tuscarora into slavery increased tensions between the groups. These led to the Tuscarora War (1711-1715), in which

1920-494: Is in love. Julie cautions her that this stranger could be just a "no-account river feller". Magnolia says that if she found out he was "no-account", she would stop loving him. Julie warns her that it is not that easy to stop loving someone, explaining that she will always love Steve and singing a few lines of " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man ". Queenie overhears – she is surprised that Julie knows that song as she has only heard "colored folks" sing it. Magnolia remarks that Julie sings it all

2016-517: Is living in the rooms they want to rent. The old friends seek a singing job for Magnolia at the Trocadero, the club where they are doing a New Year's show. Julie is working there. She has fallen into drinking after being abandoned by Steve. At a rehearsal, she tries out the new song " Bill ". She appears to be thinking of Steve and sings it with great emotion. From her dressing room, she hears Magnolia singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" for her audition,

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2112-595: The George Gershwin Theatre on October 2, 1994, and continued for 947 performances making it Broadway's longest-running Show Boat to date. It starred most of the Toronto cast, but with John McMartin as Cap'n Andy. Robert Morse remained in the Toronto cast and was joined by Cloris Leachman as Parthy, Patti Cohenour as Magnolia, Hugh Panaro as Ravenal, and Valerie Pettiford as Julie. The production departed from previous iterations by tightening

2208-790: The Gershwin Theatre on Broadway in 1983. The production also toured overseas to the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. The show was produced by Robert A. Buckley and Douglas Urbanski . Mickey Rooney portrayed Cap'n Andy for portions of the tour, but Donald O'Connor took over the role on Broadway. Lonette McKee (Julie) and Karla Burns (Queenie), and director Michael Kahn all received Tony Award nominations for their work. Other cast members included Ron Raines (Gaylord Ravenal), Sheryl Woods (Magnolia), Avril Gentles (Parthy), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), and Paige O'Hara (Ellie). In 1989,

2304-538: The Paper Mill Playhouse of Millburn, New Jersey , mounted a production which was noted for its intention to restore the show in accordance with the creators' original intentions. The production restored part of the original 1927 overture and one number discarded from the show after the Broadway opening, as well as the song Ah Still Suits Me , written by Kern and Hammerstein for the 1936 film version. It

2400-661: The Prince Edward Theatre in 1998, and was nominated for the Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production (1999). Other notable revivals in England have included the joint Opera North / Royal Shakespeare Company production of 1989, which ran at the London Palladium in 1990, and the 2006 production directed by Francesca Zambello , presented by Raymond Gubbay at London's Royal Albert Hall . It

2496-865: The stock market crash . In May 1932 he staged a revival of Show Boat that ran for six months—a hit, by Depression standards. That same year, he brought his Follies stars to CBS Radio with The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air . In 1896, Ziegfeld met Anna Held , an actress, in London. Ziegfeld and Held began a common-law marriage in 1897, and she divorced him in 1913, according to her obituary in The New York Times dated August 13, 1918. Held served Ziegfeld with divorce papers on April 14, 1912, and their divorce became final on January 9, 1913. Held had submitted testimony about Ziegfeld's relationship with another woman. The unnamed party in this romantic triangle

2592-405: The 1890s and early 20th century. According to The Complete Book of Light Opera : Here we come to a completely new genre – the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now … the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now … came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity. The quality of Show Boat

2688-456: The 1925 success of the musical Sunny in collaboration with Hammerstein, Kern sought a new Broadway project for the pair. By late 1926 he was determined to make Ferber's novel the subject of their next musical. Hammerstein agreed, and the pair began writing material even before obtaining permission from Ferber to use her work or having a producer attached to the project. From the beginning they were determined to attract Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. as

2784-425: The 1929 film, Show Boat —a part-talkie based on Edna Ferber 's 1926 novel , not the popular stage adaptation that was still playing on Broadway when the film was released. Universal Pictures originally made Show Boat as a silent, and obtained the rights to the popular Broadway score after the film was shot. The 18-minute prologue is introduced by Ziegfeld and producer Carl Laemmle , and features excerpts from

2880-588: The 1936 film, was added to the production. Two new mime and dance "Montages" in Act 2 depicted the passage of time through changing styles of dance and music. The production went on tour, playing at the Kennedy Center, and it was staged in London (1998) and Melbourne, Australia. The original London West End production of Show Boat opened May 3, 1928, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and featured among

2976-651: The African-American chorus as essentially a Greek chorus , providing clear commentary on the proceedings, whereas the white choruses sing of the not-quite-real." In Show Boat Jerome Kern used the AABA-chorus form exclusively in songs sung by African-American characters ("Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"), a form that later would be regarded as typical of "white" popular music. Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. ( / ˈ z ɪ ɡ f ɛ l d / ; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932)

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3072-675: The Ball " by Charles K. Harris , were included by the authors for historical atmosphere and are included in revivals. The New Year's Eve scene features an instrumental version of " There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight ". Some of the following numbers have been cut or revised in subsequent productions, as noted below (the songs "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", and " Bill " have been included in every stage and film production of Show Boat ): Additional numbers sometimes included in films and revivals: Ziegfeld previewed

3168-567: The Pamlico/Tar River basin, importing numerous enslaved Africans to work on the labor-intensive crop. For years the river corridor remained somewhat of a lawless backwater. The Pamlico River was a key strategic position during the American Civil War . The river is the site of the sunken Union warship, USS Picket . The U.S. Route 17 Bridge, which connects Washington, North Carolina with nearby Chocowinity , splits

3264-823: The Parisian Folies Bergère to Ziegfeld. Her success in a series of his Broadway shows, especially A Parisian Model (1906), was a major reason for his starting a series of lavish revues in 1907. Much of Held's popularity was due to Ziegfeld's creation of publicity stunts and rumors fed to the American press. Ziegfeld's stage spectaculars, known as the Ziegfeld Follies , began with Follies of 1907, which opened on July 7, 1907, and were produced annually until 1931. These extravaganzas , with elaborate costumes and sets, featured beauties chosen personally by Ziegfeld in production numbers choreographed to

3360-743: The Tuscarora led by Chief Hancock were defeated. Most Tuscarora migrated to New York, where they were sponsored by the Oneida and by 1722 were admitted to the Iroquois Confederacy as the Sixth Nation. Most of the survivors in North Carolina were removed to a reservation in Bertie County, North Carolina in 1718. Since European contact, they had lost much population due to lack of immunity to new infectious diseases , followed by

3456-541: The Washington, D.C., tryout. "Let's Start the New Year" was performed in the 1989 Paper Mill Playhouse production. Two songs, "Till Good Luck Comes My Way" (sung by Ravenal) and "Hey Feller!" (sung by Queenie), were written mainly to cover scenery changes. They were discarded beginning with the 1946 revival, although "Till Good Luck" was included in the 1994 Prince revival. The comedy song, "I Might Fall Back on You,"

3552-666: The Ziegfeld Theatre in February 1927 with Rio Rita , a musical by Kern's frequent collaborator Guy Bolton . When Rio Rita proved to be a success, Show Boat ' s Broadway opening was delayed until Rita could be moved to another theatre. In 1887, the show boat Cotton Blossom arrives at the river dock in Natchez, Mississippi . The Reconstruction era had ended a decade earlier, and white-dominated Southern legislatures have imposed racial segregation and Jim Crow rules. The boat's owner, Cap'n Andy Hawks, introduces his actors to

3648-598: The Ziegfeld mold before approaching the producer. To make Show Boat fit the Ziegfeld brand, the pair transformed the novel into a romance, fundamentally changing Ferber's tale of three generations of women in a family, Parthy, Magnolia, and Kim. Kern and Hammerstein eliminated much of Parthy and Captain Andy's story, including Captain Andy's death, both to lighten the tale and refocus the story on Magnolia's relationship with Ravenal. They skipped Magnolia's childhood and relationship with her mother, and rather than concentrating on

3744-445: The award for Outstanding Cinematography ( Gerald Finnerman ). Ziegfeld appears as a character in a number of films: In the Broadway musical Crazy For You (1992), the character Bela Zangler is a fictionalised version of Ziegeld, having his own "Zangler's Follies" and his character being driven by a love for the young folly Tess despite being married, much like Ziegfeld's own affair with Lillian Lorraine . In The Drowsy Chaperone ,

3840-441: The beauty of women. He was financially impractical but aesthetically impeccable—a genius in his chosen field." Nominated for seven Academy Awards , The Great Ziegfeld received Oscars for Best Picture , Best Actress ( Luise Rainer as Anna Held), and Best Dance Direction (Seymour Felix), for the astonishingly opulent production number, " A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody "—one of the most famous musical sequences ever filmed. It

3936-475: The book, dropping or adding songs used in or cut from various productions, and highlighting its racial elements. Prince transformed "Why Do I Love You?" from a duet between Magnolia and Ravenal to a lullaby sung by Parthy to Magnolia's baby girl, and then reprised as an up-tempo production number finale. The love duet for Magnolia and Ravenal, "I Have the Room Above Her", written by Kern and Hammerstein for

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4032-495: The cast, Cedric Hardwicke as Capt. Andy, Edith Day as Magnolia, Paul Robeson as Joe, and Alberta Hunter as Queenie. Mabel Mercer , later famed as a cabaret singer, was in the chorus. Other West End presentations include a 1971 production at the Adelphi Theatre , which ran for 909 performances. Derek Royle was Cap'n Andy, Cleo Laine was Julie, and Pearl Hackney played Parthy Ann. The Hal Prince production ran at

4128-494: The casualties of war. English , Irish , and Scottish settlers moved to the region from Virginia for larger tracts of cheaper land. A cluster of German and Swiss settlers also moved to the region from the southeastern settlement of New Bern, North Carolina . They established such towns as Washington and Bath. The latter was home and operating base for the pirate Blackbeard , who was finally pardoned by Governor Charles Eden . Most settlers engaged in tobacco farming in

4224-562: The character Joe (spelled Jo in the novel). They shifted the novel's use of the Mississippi River as a metaphor for Magnolia's resilience to Joe through the hit song " Ol' Man River " to represent the resilience of the African-American laborer surviving in a racist society. The torch singer Helen Morgan was another star who Kern and Hammerstein envisioned from the beginning for the role of Julie. Knowing that Morgan's popularity as nightclub singer would draw in crowds, they increased

4320-437: The crowd on the levee. A fistfight breaks out between Steve Baker, the leading man of the troupe, and Pete, a rough engineer who had been making passes at Steve's wife, the leading lady Julie La Verne . Steve knocks Pete down, and Pete swears revenge, suggesting he knows a dark secret about Julie. Cap'n Andy pretends to the shocked crowd that the fight was a preview of one of the melodramas to be performed. The troupe exits with

4416-545: The final scenes of the story, as well as many small details. It reconciles Ravenal and Magnolia a few years after they separate, rather than 23 years later. When Ravenal leaves Magnolia in Chicago, he does not know that she is pregnant. Through a chance meeting with Julie, he learns that Magnolia and his daughter are living on the Cotton Blossom. He goes to where the boat is docked and sees Kim playing. He talks with her;

4512-410: The increasing popularity in the 1920s of black singers performing spirituals on the concert stage in America. Influenced by the writings of ethnomusicologist Natalie Curtis , Ferber uses the theme of African-American music as a means of criticizing the state of contemporary white American theatre. At the end of the novel, Magnolia watches her daughter Kim study to become a singer and actress; only to have

4608-470: The last show he worked on. The production ran for 418 performances and then toured extensively. Its cost was reportedly $ 300,000, and a month before the Broadway closing, it was reported as still $ 130,000 from breaking even. Additional New York revivals were produced in 1948 and 1954 at the New York City Center with the 1948 production starred Billy House as Cap'n Andy. The 1954 production

4704-412: The law for them. Ravenal returns and asks for passage on the boat. Andy hires him as the new leading man and assigns his daughter Magnolia as the new leading lady, over her mother's objections. As Magnolia and Ravenal begin to rehearse their roles and in the process, kiss for the first time (infuriating Parthy), Joe reprises the last few lines of "Ol' Man River". Weeks later, Magnolia and Ravenal have been

4800-410: The life and soul of her talents driven out of her by the white music and theatre education system. Ferber implies that music from black culture is more authentic, intuitive, and superior in quality than white musical culture that is restrained by education. Decker wrote: "In Show Boat , Ferber used a racial argument about the sources of musical inspiration and authentic voice to support her thesis about

4896-484: The name of the river. That portion heading westward upstream is called the Tar River. Though the river no longer has any steamers and cargo ships floating down it, it still carries hundreds of boats per year. It is a popular fishing spot. Tobacco farming continues on agricultural land. While fishkills were a bigger problem around the year 2000, state authorities still warn against eating the river's shellfish. Though

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4992-459: The original production were as follows: The original production ran four-and-a-half hours during tryouts but was trimmed to just over three by the time it got to Broadway. During previews, four songs, " Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun ", "I Would Like to Play a Lover's Part", "Let's Start the New Year" and "It's Getting Hotter in the North", were cut from the show. The song "Be Happy, Too" was cut after

5088-465: The plot of Show Boat alike trace the course of American life across the divide separating the nineteenth century from the twentieth, an epochal shift felt with particular power in the 1920s when the effects of World War I and a series of overlapping transformations in daily life were altering the fabric of the nation." Ferber's novel was inspired by a conversation she had with the producer Winthrop Ames in 1924. Ames, to whom Ferber dedicated her novel,

5184-440: The premiere at the opening on his new Broadway theatre on Sixth Avenue, the epic scope of the work required an unusually long period of development. Show Boat went through numerous revisions during tryout performances. Additionally, Ziegfeld was concerned that the serious tone of the musical would not appeal to audiences and strongly disliked the songs Ol' Man River and Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun . He ultimately decided to open

5280-429: The production one of "unimpeachable skill and taste". He termed Terris "a revelation"; Winninger "extraordinarily persuasive and convincing"; and Bledsoe's singing "remarkably effective". The character Joe, the stevedore who sings "Ol' Man River", was expanded from the novel and written specifically by Kern and Hammerstein for Paul Robeson , already a noted actor and singer. Although he is the actor most identified with

5376-436: The radio productions eliminated the miscegenation aspect of the plot. Notable exceptions were the 1940 Cavalcade of America broadcast and the 1952 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast. There have been many other studio cast recordings of Show Boat in addition to those mentioned above. The soundtrack of the 1936 film version has appeared on a so-called "bootleg" CD label called Xeno. Show Boat boldly portrayed racial issues and

5472-483: The relationship with her daughter, the musical ends with her reconciliation with Ravenal, a redemptive and more romantic arc than in the novel. They also brightened Julie's story somewhat and harmonized it with broader social themes. Kern arranged an introduction to Ferber in October 1926 through their mutual friend, the critic Alexander Woollcott , during the intermission of Kern's newest musical Criss Cross . Ferber

5568-595: The rest of his life. Not long after his divorce from Held, Ziegfeld married actress Billie Burke on April 11, 1914. They had met at a New Year's Eve party. They had one child, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson (1916–2008). The family lived on his estate in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York , and in Palm Beach, Florida . Ziegfeld died in Hollywood, California on July 22, 1932, from pleurisy , related to

5664-503: The role and the song, he was unavailable for the original production due to its opening delay. Jules Bledsoe premiered the part. Robeson played Joe in four notable productions of Show Boat : the 1928 London premiere production, the 1932 Broadway revival, the 1936 film version and a 1940 stage revival in Los Angeles . Reviewing the 1932 Broadway revival, the critic Brooks Atkinson described Robeson's performance: "Mr. Robeson has

5760-455: The ship's cook. He replies that he has "seen a lot like [Ravenal] on the river." As Magnolia goes inside the boat to tell her friend Julie about the handsome stranger, Joe mutters that she ought to ask the river for advice. He and the other dock workers reflect on the wisdom and indifference of " Ol' Man River ", who does not seem to care what the world's troubles are, but "jes' keeps rollin' along". Magnolia finds Julie inside and announces that she

5856-563: The ship's performers and from the Cotton Blossom' s black cook Queenie and her husband, the dock worker Jo. Despite her mother's opposition, Magnolia becomes an actress and singer on the boat's stage. She falls in love with her co-star, gambler Gaylord Ravenal; they marry and have a child. Ravenal's gambling addiction and huge debts, philandering with prostitutes, and ill health lead him to abandon his family. Magnolia manages to move on and thrive because of her prodigious singing talent; she

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5952-404: The show and providing opportunities for a chorus that featured beautiful white women. They sought the star talents of African-American bass-baritone Paul Robeson . Robeson had achieved acclaim on the concert stage as a singer of spirituals and was an ideal choice to perform the spiritual-like music that reflected the music theme in Ferber's novel. To attract him, they increased the prominence of

6048-978: The show in a pre-Broadway tour from November 15 to December 19, 1927. The locations included the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. , the Nixon Theatre in Pittsburgh , the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland , and the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia . The show opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927. The critics were immediately enthusiastic, and the show was a great popular success, running

6144-450: The showboat band, and the crowd follows. A handsome riverboat gambler, Gaylord Ravenal , appears on the levee and is taken with eighteen-year-old Magnolia ("Nolie") Hawks, an aspiring performer and the daughter of Cap'n Andy and his wife Parthenia Ann ("Parthy"). Magnolia is likewise smitten with Ravenal (" Make Believe "). She seeks advice from Joe, a black dock worker aboard the boat, who has returned from buying flour for his wife Queenie,

6240-501: The size of the role in the musical. This also allowed Hammerstein to reshape the role into a sympathetic figure. In the novel, Julie is denounced for both her deception in passing as white and for her miscegenation. Hammerstein replaced this castigation with a sympathetic and affirming speech by Parthy in which the audience is led to see that Julie is unfairly condemned by a racist and immoral society. In this aspect, Hammerstein's libretto becomes an anti-racist and politically engaged story in

6336-400: The song which Julie taught her years ago. Julie secretly quits her job so that Magnolia can fill it, without learning of her sacrifice. On New Year's Eve, Andy and Parthy go to Chicago for a surprise visit to their daughter Magnolia. Andy goes to the Trocadero without his wife, and sees Magnolia overcome with emotion and nearly booed off stage. Andy rallies the crowd by starting a sing-along of

6432-527: The source of inspired versus uninspired acting in the almost entirely white realm of Broadway theater." Ferber's Show Boat was an unlikely candidate for a musical adaptation in the 1920s: Its heroine's unhappy marriage, her independence, and her grit in surviving as a single mother after being abandoned by a morally flawed husband ran counter to the typical portrayal of women in Broadway musicals as helpless victims who need rescuing. And Julie's tragic subplot

6528-825: The stage production performed by cast members Jules Bledsoe , Tess Gardella , Helen Morgan and the Broadway chorus. Two subsequent adaptations of Show Boat , in 1936 and 1951 , were based on the stage musical. Technicolor screen versions of three of Ziegfeld's stage musicals were produced in the early sound film era. RKO Pictures had its first hit with its lavish presentation of Rio Rita (1929), starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles . Marilyn Miller reprised one of her greatest stage successes in Sally (1929). Eddie Cantor reprised his popular Broadway role in Whoopee! (1930), which Ziegfeld himself produced with Samuel Goldwyn . In 1936 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released

6624-412: The standard, " After the Ball ". Magnolia becomes a great musical star. More than 20 years pass, and it is 1927. An aged Joe on the Cotton Blossom sings a reprise of "Ol' Man River". Cap'n Andy has a chance meeting with Ravenal and arranges his reunion with Magnolia. Andy knows that Magnolia is retiring and returning to the Cotton Blossom with Kim, who has become a Broadway star. Kim gives her admirers

6720-695: The theater after Ziegfeld's death. The Ziegfeld Theatre opened in February 1927 with Ziegfeld's production of Rio Rita , which ran for nearly 500 performances. This was followed by Show Boat , a great hit with a run of 572 performances. This musical, which concerned racial discrimination in the South during the late nineteenth century, was a collaboration between Ziegfeld, Urban, and composer Jerome Kern . The musical has been revived four times on Broadway, winning multiple Tony Awards . The score features several classics such as " Ol' Man River " and " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man ". Ziegfeld lost much of his money in

6816-505: The time, and when Queenie asks if she can sing the entire song, Julie obliges. During the rehearsal for that evening, Julie and Steve learn that the town sheriff is coming to arrest them. Steve takes out a large pocket knife and makes a cut on the back of her hand, sucking the blood and swallowing it. Pete returns with the sheriff, who insists the show cannot proceed because Julie is a mulatto who has been passing as white and local law prohibits mixed marriages . Julie admits that her mother

6912-465: The trip. Much of the world of the novel was based on stories he told to Ferber. One, involving a family of showboat performers with mixed-race children, were the basis for the novel's subplot of the characters Julie and Steve. Julie, a mixed-race woman passing as white, and her white husband Steve broke miscegenation laws of the era by marrying. Magnolia was a typical heroine of a Ferber novel, who tended to base her female leads on her herself. Magnolia

7008-422: The two "make believe" that he is her "real daddy", and he weeps. Magnolia arrives and sends Kim aboard. She and Ravenal hesitate and then embrace, and she leads him onto the boat. Parthy is as happy as Captain Andy to see the reunion. Joe and the chorus sing "Ol' Man River", and the ship heads down river. Julie watches from a distance and blows them a gentle kiss as the Cotton Blossom recedes. The musical numbers in

7104-807: The types of 19th-century paddle steamer ships active on the Mississippi. She boarded the James Adams Floating Palace Theatre in April 1925, leaving North Carolina, and spent five days on the ship while it traversed the Pamlico River . Ferber described the voyage as resulting in a "treasure trove of show-boat material, human, touching, true". Onboard, she attended rehearsals and took on jobs from selling and taking tickets to performing small roles. She also spoke with audience members. The ship's captain, Charles Hunter, hosted

7200-579: The works of prominent composers such as Irving Berlin , George Gershwin and Jerome Kern . The Follies featured the famous Ziegfeld girls , female chorus dancers who wore elaborate costumes and performed in synchronization. The Follies featured many performers who, though well known from previous work in other theatrical genres, achieved unique financial success and publicity with Ziegfeld. Included among these are Nora Bayes , Fanny Brice , Ruth Etting , W. C. Fields , Eddie Cantor , Marilyn Miller , Will Rogers , Bert Williams and Ann Pennington . At

7296-438: Was Robert Russell Bennett , and the conductor was Victor Baravalle . The scenic design for the original production was by Joseph Urban , who had worked with Ziegfeld for many years in his Follies and had designed the elaborate new Ziegfeld Theatre itself. Costumes were designed by John Harkrider. In his opening night review for The New York Times , Brooks Atkinson called the book's adaptation "intelligently made", and

7392-440: Was MGM's most expensive production since Ben-Hur (1925), and it made back twice its cost. Released by MGM ten years later, Ziegfeld Follies (1946) was an all-star revue that includes Powell in a cameo role as Ziegfeld. A 1978 NBC - television film , Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women , stars Paul Shenar as Ziegfeld. Directed by Buzz Kulik , the three-hour biopic was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and received

7488-412: Was acquitted of murder. Cap'n Andy calls Parthy "narrow-minded" and defends Ravenal by announcing that he also once killed a man. Parthy faints, but the ceremony proceeds. Six years have passed, and it is 1893. Ravenal and Magnolia have moved to Chicago , where they make a precarious living from Ravenal's gambling. At first they are rich and enjoying the good life ("Why Do I Love You?") By 1903, they have

7584-412: Was also cut beginning in 1946. It was restored in the 1951 film version and several stage productions since the 1980s. The score also includes four songs not written for Show Boat : " Bill " was originally written by Kern and P. G. Wodehouse in 1917 and was reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat . Two other songs not by Kern and Hammerstein, "Goodbye, My Lady Love" by Joseph E. Howard and " After

7680-645: Was an American Broadway impresario , notable for his series of theatrical revues , the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat . He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl". Ziegfeld is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame . Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. was born on March 21, 1867, in Chicago , Illinois. His mother, Rosalie ( née de Hez), who

7776-497: Was black, but Steve tells the sheriff that he also has "black blood" in him, so their marriage is legal in Mississippi. The troupe backs him up, boosted by the ship's pilot Windy McClain, a longtime friend of the sheriff. The couple have escaped the charge of miscegenation, but they still have to leave the show boat; identified as black, they can no longer perform for the segregated white audience. Cap'n Andy fires Pete, but in spite of his sympathy for Julie and Steve, he cannot violate

7872-599: Was born in Belgium , was the grandniece of General Count Étienne Maurice Gérard . His father, Florenz Edward Ziegfeld, was a German immigrant whose father was the mayor of Jever in Friesland . Ziegfeld was baptized in his mother's Roman Catholic church. His father was Lutheran . As a child Ziegfeld witnessed the Chicago fire of 1871 . His father ran the Chicago Musical College and later opened

7968-518: Was directed by Daniel Evans using the Goodspeed Musicals version of the show. The cast included Gina Beck as Magnolia, Lucy Briers as Parthy Ann and Malcolm Sinclair as Cap'n Andy. Despite very favorable reviews, the show closed at the end of August 2016. Show Boat has been adapted for film three times, and for television once. Show Boat was adapted for live radio at least seven times. Due to network censorship rules, many of

8064-588: Was directed by Robert Johanson and starred Eddie Bracken as Cap'n Andy. The Paper Mill production was preserved on videotape and broadcast on PBS . Livent Inc. produced Show Boat in Toronto in 1993, starring Rebecca Luker as Magnolia, Mark Jacoby as Ravenal, Lonette McKee as Julie, Robert Morse as Cap'n Andy, Elaine Stritch as Parthy, Michel Bell as Joe and Gretha Boston as Queenie. Co-produced and directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Susan Stroman, closing in June 1995. A Broadway production opened at

8160-423: Was far darker than Broadway musicals' typical content. Rather than ending with a happy marriage to her male rescuer, Ferber's novel depicts Magnolia's marriage as the source of her problems followed by her triumphant solo journey to independence and success. Nevertheless, the novel's recurring music and entertainment themes made it an irresistible challenge for Kern and Hammerstein to adapt for the musical stage. After

8256-516: Was finally won over by Kern and Hammersteins' assurance that the musical would not emulate the typical "frivolous 'girlie show'" of the musical stage. On November 17, 1926, she signed a contract giving the creative duo the musical-dramatic rights to her novel. Kern and Hammerstein had mostly completed Act I of Show Boat prior to presenting their idea to Ziegfeld on November 25, 1926. They sold their idea to him partly by building material around specific talent, such as hiring vaudeville performers into

8352-718: Was mounted by the New York City Opera with Burl Ives (Cap'n Andy), Laurel Hurley (Magnolia), Robert Rounseville (Ravenal), Helena Bliss (Julie), Marjorie Gateson (Parthy), Boris Aplon (Pete), Lawrence Winters (Joe), and Helen Phillips (Queenie) The Music Theatre of Lincoln Center company produced Show Boat in 1966 at the New York State Theater in a new production. It starred Barbara Cook (Magnolia), Constance Towers (Julie), Stephen Douglass (Ravenal), David Wayne (Cap'n Andy), Margaret Hamilton (Parthy) and William Warfield (Joe). It

8448-615: Was not set in an all-white mid-western town. Her decision to set the novel on a Mississippi River boat traveling south forced her to engage with race for the first time. While the central characters in Ferber's novel are predominantly white, the inclusion of secondary characters like Julie, Jo, Queenie and various unnamed black characters, provide a view of a multiracial world. The novel often presents black figures in relation to music; frequent references to spirituals and other forms of music associated with African-Americans provide background for Magnolia's musical journey. This choice reflected

8544-814: Was produced by Richard Rodgers , and Robert Russell Bennett once again provided a new overture and revised orchestrations. The Houston Grand Opera staged a revival of Show Boat that premiered at Jones Hall in Houston in June 1982 and then toured to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and finally to

8640-483: Was producing Ferber's play Minick , which was preparing for its Broadway debut; its tryout performances were not going well. Following a difficult day, Ames joked that they should all join a showboat if the play flopped. Ferber had never heard of a showboat, and her curiosity began her fascination with 19th century showboats on the Mississippi River . She began months of research and became an expert on

8736-578: Was recognized immediately by critics, and it is frequently revived. Awards did not exist for Broadway shows in 1927, when the show premiered, or in 1932 when its first revival was staged. Late 20th-century revivals of Show Boat have won both the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (1995) and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival (1991). In April 1926, Edna Ferber 's fifth novel, Show Boat , began publication in

8832-425: Was shocked by the proposal, concerned that the work was not suitable for the musical genre. She felt the work's 50-year time span, and her treatment of topics like spousal desertion, alcoholism, and miscegenation did not fit the frivolous, light-hearted mold of popular musicals. She also knew that racially integrated casts of black and white actors and singers had never been attempted before on the Broadway stage. Ferber

8928-447: Was showgirl Lillian Lorraine , an entertainer of limited talent but charismatic stage presence and beauty whom Ziegfeld discovered in 1907 when she was a 15-year-old performer in a Shubert production. Ziegfeld spent years promoting her career, transforming her into one of the most popular attractions in his Follies and establishing her in an apartment two floors above the residence he shared with Held. He remained in love with Lorraine for

9024-422: Was the first racially integrated musical, in that both black and white performers appeared and sang on stage together. Ziegfeld's Follies featured solo African American performers such as Bert Williams , but would not have included a black woman in the chorus. Show Boat was structured with two choruses – a black chorus and a white chorus. Ethnomusicologist Richard Keeling noted that "Hammerstein uses

9120-526: Was the first fully staged musical production in the history of that venue. Karla Burns, who had appeared as Queenie in the 1983 Broadway revival, reprised the role for the Opera North and RSC production, becoming the first black performer to win the Laurence Olivier Award . A production was transferred from Sheffield 's Crucible Theatre to London's New London Theatre with previews beginning on April 9, 2016, and an official opening on April 25, 2016. It

9216-509: Was well received by both the public and the critics from the beginning, and the author received offers for film adaptations after the first two installments of the novel were published in WHC . It became a best-selling novel. It centers on Magnolia, the daughter of the owners of a showboat , Cotton Blossom , Captain Andy Hawks and his wife, Parthy. Musically gifted as a child, she learns from

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