LIKE OLD MAN RIVER, SHOWBOAT JUST KEEPS ROLLING ALONG.
A Review of Jerome Kern's Classic Musical Now Playing at Sullivan's
Little Theatre on the Square

by James L. Seay

The venerable Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois has opened its 53^rd season with a real crowd-pleasing blockbuster of a production. Showboat opened June 9^th with a sold-out house, and Executive Director John Stephens told me that it looks like the entire run may well sell out. For those who are able to get tickets, they are in for a genuine treat. What a way to start a season!

Although Jerome Kern considered his 1927 masterwork, Showboat, an opera (indeed, at the end of the score, he made the note, "End of Opera"), it actually was the first truly American Musical. It marked a significant departure from operettas, light musical comedies of the 1890s and early 20th century, and the "Follies"-type musical revues that had defined Broadway. 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."

Based on Edna Ferber's novel of life on a Mississippi showboat, published in 1926, the 1927 musical deals with the themes of racial prejudice in the South as well as a story of tragic yet unending love. It was also the first fully racially integrated musical to make it to Broadway, featuring both white and black choruses juxtaposed to illustrate the separation of the races in American society, a tremendously brave thing to do in 1927 and something that would not again be approached on the American musical stage until E. Y. Harburg/Fred Saidly and Burton Lane's 1947 Finian's Rainbow and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's South Pacific in 1949 The black chorus actually served as a Greek Chorus in Showboat. The theatre critics and veterans Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright believe that Showboat was revolutionary, not only because it was a radical departure from the previous style of plotless revues, but because it was a show written by non-blacks that portrayed blacks sympathetically rather than condescendingly. In their 2005 book, Changing Stages: A View of British and American Theatre in the 20^th Century, they said, "Instead of a line of chorus girls showing their legs in the opening number singing that they were happy, happy, happy, the curtain rose on black dock-hands lifting bales of cotton, and singing about the hardness of their lives. Here was a musical that showed poverty, suffering, bitterness, racial prejudice, a sexual relationship between black and white, a love story which ended unhappily -- and of course show business. In 'Ol' Man River' the black race was given an anthem to honor its misery that had the authority of an authentic spiritual."

Doubtlessly, "Old Man River" is the best known song from Showboat. It was originally sung by Jules Bledsoe because, when the play opened, Paul Robeson was unavailable. The controversial bass-baritone Robeson became linked with the song until William Warfield played the role in the 1950s MGM movie, during which his singing of "Old Man River" was taken on a single "take." While the roustabout, Joe is actually a secondary character, due to his singing of "Old Man River," the character has become the best known in the cast to the general public. In The Little Theatre on the Square's most recent production (it was done once before at LTOTS, in the late 1960s with Butterfly McQueen playing the part of Queenie) Joe is sung by Monté Howell. Unlike Bledsoe, Robeson and Warfield, Howell is a bass rather than a bass/baritone who uses his voice's lower register to leave a smashing impact on the signature song of the piece. In the current production's opening performance, he easily gained the greatest applause from the capacity audience.

But this is not to say that "Old Man River" is the only song and Howell is the only singer in the LTOTS production. I have always loved the song, "Bill," written in 1917 by Kern with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse (who introduced Kern to Ferber), and sung in the second act by Julie LaVeren played by Lizette Cruz. In the LTOTS production, Julie, the tragic Mulatto heroine of the Showboat, Cotton Blossom, does a truly fine job with this song, seated on the piano in obviously tribute to Helen Morgan who originated the role in the 1927 production.

The two tragic lovers, Magnolia Hawkes and riverboat gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, are played by the well-matched husband-and-wife pair, Jeannie Shubitz and Jason Fleck. Neither are strangers to Showboat, Fleck having played in Harold Prince's production in London's West End, as well as touring with Showboat, in his signature part of Ravenal. The chemistry between this pair (after all, they are married in real-life) is excellent and comes through strongly in their duets of "Make Believe," "You Are Love" and "Why Do I Love You?" Actor's Equity member Jack Milo, backed up by Therese Kincade as Captain Andy Hawkes and his wife, Parthy Ann (whom you may remember as The Reverend Mother in Nunsense if you are an LTOTS regular) supply much comic relief, including Captain Andy's depiction of the balance of the "Mellerdramer" interrupted when Frank Shultz, the showboat company's villain (Actors' Equity member, Mike Zygo) faints when confronted by the gun-toting backwoods member of the audience, is hilarious, as is his "Happy New Year" party later in the second act, which is very reminiscent of Joe E. Brown's performance in the MGM film of Showboat in the 1950's.

Providing wonderful comedic relief as well as spectacular dancing are the team of Jill and Mike Zygo, both Actors' Equity members who are no strangers to the LTOTS stage. It is good to see them back.

Directed by LTOTS new Artistic Director, Tralen Doler who also served as Choreographer, this 1994 Harold Prince version of Showboat, somewhat streamlined from the original Florenz Ziegfeld 1927 production, with a beautiful stage set designed by Noel Rennerfeldt moves beautifully and quickly across the LTOTS tiny proscenium stage, utilizing a company of over thirty actors, with many entrances and exits smashing the fourth wall and proscenium arch by making entrances and exits down the aisles through the audience. As we have come to expect from this theatre company, the Little Theatre on the Square has served up another unqualified hit. And the rest of the 53^rd season looks equally engaging.

Showboat will continue at Sullivan, Illinois' Little Theatre on the Square (16 East Harrison Street) through June 20^th, 2010. However, tickets are flying off the shelf, so if you want to see this excellent production, I suggest you call the Box Office at (217) 728-7375 without delay. It has been over 40 years since LTOTS last did Showboat, so if you miss it this run, you may have a long wait to see it again.