Show Boat

In the history of Broadway musicals, a few productions are at the top of everyone's all time classics list: Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady", Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel", but the granddaddy of them all is Kern and Hammerstein's "Show Boat". Originally performed on Broadway in 1927, the musical was produced by legendary showman Florenz Ziegfeld and is widely regarded as a landmark production, the first to incorporate both serious thematic material into its plot and an operatic score. Before "Show Boat", Broadway musicals were all frothy confections, filled with paper thin plots, broad characterizations, and light scores that articulated the production's overall flighty nature. "Show Boat" changed all that; featuring an incredible, emotionally and artistically complex score by two titans of musical theater, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (who, like his other famous collaborator, Richard Rodgers, also had an illustrious career prior to their more celebrated working relationship) and a startlingly progressive plot involving a mixed race entertainer (although it should be noted, it was not until the 1983 revival of the show, after three film versions and three different Broadway mountings did an actual mixed race actress play the role), and realistically portrayed human suffering. The story revolves around the titular show boat, the Cotton Blossom, which tours up and down the Mississippi River, and the colorful cast of characters aboard. Arthur Freed, known for his lavish productions, typically spared no expense here, peppering the cast with familiar faces: Ava Gardner as the tragic Julie, Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson (a duo Jack Cummings would subsequently utilize in another Broadway to Hollywood production, "Kiss Me Kate") as the tempestuous lovers Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia Hawks, Joe E. Brown and Agnes Moorehead as the show boat's proprietors, Cap'n Andy Hawks and his wife Parthy, and acclaimed stage couple Gower and Marge Champion as the film's "B" couple, all under the sure handed direction of MGM's jack of all trades director George Sidney. Despite two previous film versions (the 1936 version is also justly celebrated, thanks to Paul Robeson's definitive rendition of "Ol' Man River"), neither can dim the great cast, rousing score and brilliant Technicolor of an Arthur Freed MGM production, who knew how to align stars for his films.

The film begins with an incredible vignette, as the show boat rounds the bend into Natchez, Mississippi, the entire company, positioned on every square inch of the boat's deck space, launches into the song "Cotton Blossom", alerting seemingly the entire town of their arrival. Cap'n Andy Hawks and his wife, Parthy own and operate the vessel, and Julie LaVerne is their star attraction, a great beauty and renowned singer, who also happens to be of mixed race. Once this is found out (the show takes place in the latter half of the 19th century, when such things were illegal) Cap'n Andy is forced to remove Julie from the show. What makes the show so progressive is the display of loyalty that Julie's husband, Steve, demonstrates, pricking her finger so he can drink her blood and possess African American blood as well. The show's star duo now cast adrift, Cap'n Andy reluctantly casts his daughter, Magnolia, as the star attraction, with the ship's new leading man, Gaylord Ravenal as her co-star. Played with perhaps a bit too much charm by Howard Keel (on stage Ravenal truly is a heel, who, while he loves Magnolia, is also an unapologetic gambler and carouser), Ravenal smooth talks his way onboard and immediately makes Magnolia swoon. Soon the couple secretly marry, and with the blessing of Cap'n Andy, move to Chicago where Ravenal can make a go at being a "professional gambler". Despite having immediate success, Ravenal soon finds himself riding a long bad streak, and leaves Magnolia. This action too is played differently on screen that it is on stage. The movie portrays Ravenal as a disgraced husband who has failed his wife and retreats into his own depression. The stage version portrays a restless man, frustrated with his own bad luck, who deserts his wife in the hopes of starting anew. Either way, neither version knew one thing: Magnolia is pregnant (see, progressive!). Still needing to provide for herself, Magnolia gets the chance to audition at a nightclub in Chicago, where a broken down, alcoholic Julie is performing. Julie immediately brightens upon seeing her old friend Magnolia, and encourages her to sing the song she taught her years before "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". Magnolia is very shy at first and the club owner dismisses her, but Julie walks out on her contract (deliberately) forcing the owner to hire on Magnolia as the new attraction.

The night of her first performance, New Year's Eve, Cap'n Andy happens to be in the audience and is shocked to see his daughter on stage. Magnolia sings a beautiful song "After the Night is Over" (a song written for the film, and retained in subsequent stage productions), timidly at first, but gains more confidence when she sees her father encouraging her from the audience. Magnolia had been too heart broken to tell her father that Ravenal had left her, especially in her condition, but Cap'n Andy warmly welcomes her back, and she returns to the show boat. Shortly after, Magnolia has her baby, a girl named Kim, and while docked at some port along the Mississippi, Kim happens to meet Ravenal, who has recognized the Cotton Blossom. After talking with the girl for a few moments, Ravenal notices Magnolia on deck, and after receiving her look of forgiveness, returns to her, reuniting the family. While the stage version ends this way, Magnolia's decision is a more strained here, which makes the film's ending somewhat more satisfying. As the boat pulls away, we see Julie looking on one last time, Magnolia's guardian angel seemingly, and the rousing song "Ol' Man River", sung by the MGM chorus (a device very popular in Old Hollywood musicals, have one on screen singer, in this case William Warfield, as boat hand Joe, accompanied by an off screen chorus) swells to a finale. Despite receiving a cool reception from critics, the film was a box office success, thanks to Arthur Freed's shrewd casting, and of course, the show's enduring popularity. One odd note; the film's poster, not the one picture here however, featured Howard Keel and Ava Gardner, not uncommon to portray the film's two biggest stars, except for the fact that the two have nothing to do with one another in the film! That small inconsistency aside, "Show Boat" is a gorgeously photograped film, emblematic of MGM in the 1950's and features one of the great American scores. A true classic, on both the stage and the screen.