Customer Reviews

Kern & Hammerstein II: Show Boat - Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard, John McGlinn, London Sinfonietta & Ambrosian Chorus

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the fall of 1988, EMI made history by releasing a note-complete recording of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's immortal musical SHOW BOAT.

Surprisingly, the original 1927 version had never been recorded complete. Those in search of the entire score were forced to assemble it themselves from a number of available recordings.

The record labels were not making full original cast albums in 1927, although a few of the original stars made singles of their hit songs. Brunswick issued an album of highlights from the 1932 revival but only 3 of the six selections were by members of the Broadway cast.

Columbia's album of the 1946 revival was closer, but limited to five 12-inch 78 it covered only nine songs and the new Overture created for the revival.

Columbia re-recorded essentially the same program for a studio cast disc headed by Barbara Cook and John Raitt.

Cook starred in the 1966 Lincoln revival, recorded by RCA Victor but again it is a fairly truncated album covering little more than the key hit songs.

It seemed strange no one tried a 2- LP set, but when the show was revived in London in 1972 the cast album for that production was issued as a single LP in England and a special 2 LP set in the U.S. Still, it did not contain the entire score.

Dozens of other SHOW BOAT discs had been issued over the years, but none of them included the complete score with the original orchestrations.

That is what made EMI's set so historic. John McGlinn conducts the most authentic reading of the score ever laid down. Two very full Cd's cover the opening night score (and quite a bit of dialogue.) A third CD includes cut songs, alternate versions and new songs added to later productions. All of this was accompanied by a very thick booklet (134 pages!) that contained essays on the reconstruction, a detailed synopsis, all the lyrics and text as included on the recording and dozens of photographs.

The album was a huge, expensive gamble that paid off handsomely: The recording went to #1 on the Billboard Classical charts, was a steady best-seller for years and then just as interest was starting to wane, a new stage production premiered to rave reviews in Toronto and then moved to Broadway where it won the Tony as Best Revival of 1995 (it was, after all, the season's best musical) and enjoyed a long run.

Now, EMI has reissued this recording at a budget price. No, you don't get the same detailed booklet but you do get the wonderful performances by Jerry Hadley, Frederica Von Stade, Teresa Stratas, Bruce Hubbard, Karla Burns, Dave Garrison, and Paige O'Hara. If I have any quibbles with this set - and I am not completely sure it even qualifies as a quibble - it is the somewhat mannered readings of some of the dialogue. On the other hand, SHOW BOAT is about a theatrical family so there's no reason why they would not play broadly when off stage as well.

In the end, it's the music that matters here and the fine performances supplemented by McGlinn's bright conducting make this an essential disc for any theatre fan's collection.

A powerful story still relevant in our 21st century. Gorgeous voices. Jerry Hadley's recent death seems even more of a loss after hearing his lovely tenor.

A true musical event. The late John McGlinn painstakingly restored the score of this classic show to its 1927 version, including the dialogue and songs that were deleted after its opening night. This recording does much to dispel the notion of "Show Boat" as an operetta, and instead reveals just how serious, powerful, and epic the show truly is. The performances are uniformly excellent, with Frederica von Stade and the late Jerry Hadley leading the cast. Standout moments are "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", and the mournful "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun'", deleted from all performances since that legendary opening night. The 3rd 'bonus' disc includes songs from the 1936 movie version and subsequent Broadway revivals. All told, this is The Showboat recording.

This re-release does not include the original booklet, which is a shame because it was quite informative and offered a lot of background on the original Show Boat production, as well as insightful commentary from McGlinn and others.

Having just acquired this album and listening to it in one (l-o-n-g) sitting, I have to agree with everything stated by other Amazon reviewers. (I didn't think too much of Jerry Hadley, though.)

One other thing that struck me was the original spoken dialogue that contains quite a few references that are NOT AT ALL "politically correct" in today's social environment. I wonder how controversial it was when EMI was putting this production together; did they consider making changes to the original dialogue? Maybe it's like Mark Twain's Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer: a classic's a classic. Still, I doubt many school music programs are using this recording as a reference demonstration of American musical theater!

Show Boat deserves the deluxe treatment, a complete recording of the original score, including reprises of the big numbers and dialogue from the major scenes so that the interwining of song and story comes across. It took over 70 years for such a recording to come to pass, and the achievement is no small victory.

But what a dull, lifeless album! McGlinn is true to the original tempos, but they are far below the speed most musical theater enthusiasts will be comfortable with. An even bigger problem is the casting. Frederica von Stade has a too-mature voice and odd intonation. She sounds like a deep voiced German, not an American girl. Yet this is the work that inaugurated the American musical as an art form. Most actresses have trouble with Magnolia in the early scenes, but von Stade sounds miscast throughout. Imagine Elizabeth Schwarzkopf as Cherubino and you have some idea of the problem here. And the dialogue heavy sequecnes cause her further embarrassment as she can't act her way out of a paper bag. Teresa Stratas handles her dialogue as Julie La Verne just fine (it's a darkly knowing interpretation, but it works), but when she begins "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and out comes this rich, full, operetic voice, the effect is almost pure camp. This refined voice from a country performer in a little show boat troupe? In the number that hints at her mulatto indentity? (Here are the stage directions: "She starts to sing in an attitude of defiance, then lapsing into the 'blue' spirit of the song".) Something of the same thing occurs with Von Stade entones in flawless English the countrified word "pianner."

And, in essence, this is the trick of Show Boat and the failure of this recording. It's an epic about average people, and the actors have to convince you that they'e just regular folk. When the production is as ornate, and the performances as baroque in style as this, the whole thing descends into travesty. It becomes the musical equivalent of Dresden shepherdesses and Hummel figurines. The little details that create any sense of realism are washed away, and we end up with "cutesy" Cap'n Andys and sweet little Parthys (a sweet Parthy is a contradiction in terms, but here's Nancy Kulp cartooning up the part and adding an ad-lib where she assures Magnolia that she, too, really loves Julie), and the audio equivalent of a Ross Hunter production: big but bland. Imagine a copy of Huckleberry Finn ornately bound and illustrationed, with the contractions and slang placed within quotation marks so that we don't forget Twain "knew better."

Still, despite the numerous recordings of Show Boat out there, they almost all cover the same hit tunes, in complete or truncated form. This is the only one that gives you the complete score, including cut numbers, replacements for the original London production and the later additions for the 1936 movie and the 1946 revival (somehow, under the avalanche of the "Villain Dance" the "Apache Dance" the "Trocadero Opening Chorus" and various unused material a musical archeologist would drool over, they didn't get around to recording the Overture for the 1946 revival. I doubt many people notice that, or feel bothered by the omission). That's a lot of great music, and happily recovered songs (one, "Hey, Feller!" has never been recorded elsewhere; others like "In Dahomey" are represented only by a quick chorus on the hard to track down original London 78s). I'm glad it exists. I just the production wasn't such a disappointment. It's a mixed bag.

I purchased this CD after I ran into difficulty getting a CD of the old Show Boat recording with Robert Merrill that I listened to as a child and young adult. When I ordered this CD, I was uncertain that I would be satisfied with a recording that included all the dialog with the music. I found that the dialog adds to the music nicely as it ties the music together and takes the listener through through this musical/operetta from the beginning to the end. John McGlinn and the London Sinfonietta do wonderful playing to capture the spirt of the times as the story line moves from the late 1800s on the Mississippi River to the roaring 20s in Chicago. The singing from Frederica von Stqade, Teresa Statas, Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard and the Ambrosian Chorus could not be better. With the added tracks on the third CD that were either deleted or added to different productions of Show Boat through the years, you get over three and a half hours of beautiful music. If you enjoy the music from this great American musical/operetta, you should be delighted with this recording. Don't expect to play this a background music as you have conversations with friends and family. This is a recording of Show Boat compels you to listen and enjoy every minute as if you were watching a live theater production.