Customer Reviews

Show Boat (1988 Studio Cast)

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I bought this set ten years ago when it first came out and thought it was absolutely incredible. I recently listened to it through again and my opinion of it has only grown.

"Show Boat" is a revolutionary musical in the history of the genre. First produced by Florenz Ziegfeld in 1927, it was not only ground-breaking but tremedously popular. This recording aims to present all the music written for the show; this includes variants, substitutions, cuts -- you name it, this set has got it. Indeed, the shock of the first word ("Niggers") sets the tone for this set. "Show Boat" never aims to be easy: it challenges prevailing racial attitudes by showing the past as it was, not whitewashing the unfortunate truth.

Fortunately, besides a wealth of wonderful music and challenging drama, the cast, chorus, conductor, and orchestra are all top-notch. Frederica von Stade takes the pivotal role of Magnolia with charm and sincerity. While one may wish for a true soprano timbre in the role, von Stade's performance is so winning that any misgivings are quickly set aside. Teresa Stratas as Julie sings ravishingly: after hearing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill" in the original soprano keys, you'll be discontent with the belter Julies normally heard today. Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard, Karla Burns, David Garrison, and Paige O'Hara are all equally suited to their roles and perform with total commitment and great zest.

John McGlinn is to be commended for his work toward restoring the guts and heart to "Show Boat" after years of its mistreatment as an operetta. It is not that: this is an American Opera, as surely as "Porgy and Bess" and "Street Scene," and McGlinn's care and passion for this score show in every bar.

When I listened to this set all the way through a few days ago, I found tears coming to my eyes during the final reprise of "Ol' Man River." Surely this sprawling, ambitious work is nothing less than the distillation of the American experience: good (Magnolia's triumph over adversity) and bad (the racist attitudes that eventually destroy the tender Julie). Our nation's past is littered with both glory and shame, and "Show Boat" is here to remind us of that.

There have been recordings of "Show Boat" since the 1930's, and there will be more recordings of it in the future. And there is a definitive 1936 film version, with four of the original Broadway cast members and one London cast member, which gives one as close an idea of what the original stage production may have been like. But for those who want to experience all of "Show Boat"'s astonishingly beautiful score, well sung with its original lyrics (which do include the "n" word--be warned if you are playing this album for an unsuspecting guest), as well as the original 1927 orchestrations and vocal arrangements, this is the album to have.

It is not so much the individual singers that make this album so great. After all, the 1951 soundtrack album does have Howard Keel and William Warfield, the 1936 film does have Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson, and the 1994 Harold Prince revival (the Toronto version), is one of the finest sung show albums ever made. But in the case of the 1988 EMI recording, what really impresses is the delicate care with which the score has been treated. The songs are never overdone, and conductor John McGlinn never "interprets" the score by changing the tempos of the songs. The score is never sentimentalized as it so frequently has been in earlier albums, and that includes the soundtrack to the overly popular 1951 film version. It is performed romantically and with great depth of feeling without the schmaltziness that often makes 1920's musicals sound syrupy.While listening to this album, we know we are in the hands of people who love this show and wish to represent it as best they know how.

There are a few minor drawbacks. There is way too much dialogue, included solely for the purpose of showing how composer Jerome Kern underscored the dramatic scenes. While this is interesting, after the second or third hearing, one begins to program the CD's so as to eliminate as much dialogue as possible, especially when you have such a dubiously acted Cap'n Andy as Robert Nichols's (who apparently can't avoid really hamming it up) and the late Nancy Kulp (Miss Jane on "The Beverly Hillbillies") equally over-the-top and annoying as Parthy. Of all the non-singing actors, only Lillian Gish acts with true sublety-- and shows what a great artist she was in only two minutes.

The other drawback is that sometimes Teresa Stratas' diction is unclear, as often happens with her, and with Julie's songs ("Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill"), with their poignant lyrics, that could have been a disaster, but thankfully, enough comes through and she is in gorgeous voice.

Don't let these drawbacks stop you, though; this is a monumental album that deserves to be forever in print. Let's hope that EMI/Angel keeps it that way.

The Eighties saw many recordings of classic musicals by operatic stars; many of them were passably solid (Frederica von Stade's SOUND OF MUSIC and ANTHING GOES), some were astonishingly odd (the WEST SIDE STORY with Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria and José Carreras--!!!--as Tony). But John McGlinn's loving re-creation of SHOW BOAT--in all its entirety, with all its many variations in songs and music--was by far the most spectacular and most beautifully accomplished. The operatic cast is ideal, from Teresa Stratas as a terrifyingly vulnerable Julie to Jerry haldey as a suitably overripe Ravenal, and the musical comedy stars like Paige O'Hara and David Garrison shiune in their roles. Best of all, it showcases many of the songs Kern and Hammerstein wrote for diofferent versions of SHOW BOAT that have been lost over the years, from the dark and haunting "Mis'ry's Comin' Round" chorus from Act I to the thrilling New Year's chorus of Act II. McGlinn has a great Magnolia in Frederica von Stade, who--unlike most operatic stars--has a voice ideally suited for musical theatre. She seems truly willing to try anything, and she's as fine as the bizarre specialty numbers written for the part (such as "Gallivantin' Around") as the classic standards (such as "You are Love" and "Make Believe"). Best of all, she does a raucous version of the amazingly difficult number "Nobody Else But Me" that Kern and Hammerstein wrote for their favorite of all Magnolias, Jan Clayton; pay attention when you listen to it both how infectious its melody is despite the fact that every other phrase changes key!

The above are all words that I use to describe John McGlinn's fantastic recording of "Show Boat".

Before 1927, musicals were light-hearted, frilly and not-too-heavy on story and character development. "Show Boat" was something different: a show that dared to deal with race relations in the post-Reconstruction South and give audiences a strong, developed, female lead character. Without "Show Boat", there would not have been "South Pacific", "Rent" or "Ragtime"--serious shows that shed light on who we are as Americans.

Thank God McGlinn had the guts to record the score as its creators intended, including the original overture (amazing in of itself) and the controversial opening ("Niggers all work on the Mississippi..."). Not even the likes of Hal Prince (in his 1994 revival) have been able to persevere over the pressure of historical revisionists that would deny the ugly truth of our past. As Miles Krueger states in his liner notes (and excellent book on the history of "Show Boat"), Hammerstein did not choose that word lightly or with malicious intent. He meant to portray the social attitudes of the time--attitudes that included the use of ugly racial slurs. To whitewash such facts and change this lyric is to lessen the dramatic impact of the opening of the play and, more importantly, deny part of our history.

The opening scene ("Cotton Blossom") perfectly illustrates the chasm between blacks and whites: for the blacks, a "cotton blossom" is something to be picked from hot fields and lugged in heavy bales; for whites, it is simply the name of the show boat that has come to town to entertain them. The show also addresses the injustice of miscegenation (intermarriage between the races).

All serious stuff aside, the recording is fantastically entertaining. The leads are universally amazing: Frederica Von Stade is a perfectly winsome and innocent Magnolia in the early parts of the show, strong and wise later on AND does double-duty as Kim. Jerry Hadley sounds like the perfect Ravenal (complete with Tennessee drawl in the speaking sections), his confident and soaring "Till Good Luck Comes My Way" is one of my favorite parts of the album. Bruce Hubbard's "Ol' Man River" is amazing and his reprise of the same song brings tears to my eyes. Teresa Stratas is moving as Julie and her "Bill" is a highlight. Special praise also to Karla Burns as Queenie ("Misry's Comin' Around") and Paige O'Hara ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage").

If you love musical theatre or American music in general, you MUST own this recording. Not only is it of historic value, it is hugely entertaining.

I bought this recording on both LP and CD when it first came out, dutifully listened to both copies and put them back on the shelf. I recently took out the LP version and played it again. I enjoyed it so much that I put the CD version in my car player; I listened to the whole thing beginning to end at least four times and various sections of it many more times than that. It's a truly great performance of probably the most important American musical ever written.

I have a difficult time deciding where to begin in my praise for this recording, so I'll start with the performing edition. This recording contains almost all the surviving music Kern wrote for this score, a few instances of underscoring aside. Since numbers were written, discarded, replaced and so forth, not everything appears in the main body of the recording; the appendix, which takes up most of the third disc, contains alternative numbers, including three songs that took the place of "It's Getting Hotter in the North" at various times, and three songs that were written expressly for the wonderful 1936 film version of the musical.

It's very difficult to separate the performing edition from the way the music is performed. Present-day practice favors a much more sentimentalized "Show Boat" and so some of the numbers, especially Julie's "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," are nowadays played much more slowly than originally conceived. Conductor John McGlinn goes back to original performance practice and, needless to say, to Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations, which have never been improved upon. The Ambrosian Chorus, who have recorded any number of operas, and the London Sinfonietta are all one could ask.

The singers are all wonderful. Frederica von Stade, the perfect choice for Magnolia, was captured at the absolute top of her prime. She also performs the role of Magnolia's daughter Kim, a tradition that began with Norma Terris, the first one to take these roles, and von Stade finds a different voice for Kim than for Magnolia, at least in "It's Getting Hotter in the North." For the three alternative songs, she's more recognizably von Stade. Teresa Stratas adds Julie to her roster of suffering heroines and emphasizes Julie's tragic stature. Her "Bill" does not erase memories of Helen Morgan's--probably an impossible task for anyone--but she is certainly head and shoulders above anybody else I have heard sing this music, and at least she does not try to "improve" the song with attempts to turn it into some sort of mini-drama, as so many do. Jerry Hadley brings his romantic tenor to Ravenal and sings very well indeed, although I do confess a slight preference for Mark Jacoby of the 1994 Canadian original cast version; Jacoby sings just about as well and has a natural and completely unexaggerated Southern accent that I find irresistible. Karla Burns and Bruce Hubbard are wonderful as Queenie and Joe, but as much as I enjoy their solos, I like them best of all in their duet "Ah Still Suits Me," which I think is even better than the Hattie McDaniel/Paul Robeson version in the 1936 film. Paige O'Hara and David Garrison make a very engaging Ellie and Frank, and their duets and Ellie's solo "Life on the Wicked Stage" are among the many highlights here.

The spoken roles are also very convincingly handled. I very much enjoyed Robert Nichols' performance as Captain Andy and so missed the omission of the scene where he plays all the roles in an onstage play that has been interrupted halfway through. He half-speaks his one musical opportunity, during "Why Do I Love You?," but it works. Nancy Kulp, best known to audiences as Miss Hathaway in the TV series "The Beverly Hillbillies," is a multifaceted Parthy, and I'm sorry the cuts in the dialogue mean she disappears at the end of the first act. It's also a treat to have Lillian Gish as the Old Woman on the Levee at the end. Conductor McGlinn takes on the brief role of Jake and shows that not only is he an outstanding conductor but also a very convincing actor. But then again, there is not a single weak link among the speaking roles, and the actors really "make" Magnolia's audition scene at the Trocadero in Act II.

The decision was made to omit the dialogue that is not underscored, other than portions of the miscegenation scene. While this tightens the proceedings a bit and saves the cost of an extra disc (the three CDs are very well filled as it is), with such a strong cast of actors I wish they had decided to include all of the dialogue.

I give this recording my highest recommendation, but I also suggest supplementing it with a video of the 1936 film version, whose ending however is quite different, to get a sense of the missing dialogue, and to see a very enjoyable film treatment of the show in the bargain. All in all this recording is a thoroughly satisfactory performance of "Show Boat" that will probably never be surpassed on recordings, let alone on the stage.

The 3 CD's in this set include all the music of the original 1927 version (some of which was deleted before it hit Broadway) carefully reconstructed to its original orchestration. The performance is excellent. Von Stade is the quientsensial mezzo well-matched by the supporting cast. In light of our present-day sensitivities, the discussion in the notes of the transformation of "niggers" from the original version is facinating. If you're of a generation not acquainted with "Show Boat", you'll be amazed by this rediscovery of a part of musical Americana. A must-own, totally fun recording of a great production heartily recommended.

The term "original score" as used in this recording is literally true-- John McGlinn has made a career out of having found a warehouse in New Jersey where all the orchestra parts of Broadway shows were filed away after the show closed, and bringing the shows back to life. This recording is not merely a re-creation of the original score, but was made with musicians using the actual 1927 parts.
The prominent banjo part heard with the orchestra here was eliminated in later revivals as sounding too much like the 1920's, but adds just the right 1880's Mississippi River touch to this CD. Robert Russell Bennet also orchestrated all the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows that we still hear, and influenced all Broadway orchestrations after him, so these are great orchestrations, not just period pieces. (But it is fun to hear the occasional reminders that the show was written in the 1920's.)
Another amazing feature of this recording is that the Ambrosian Chorus, a London-based opera chorus, sounds not just "American" here, but like the Americans one would hear on Broadway. The use of opera stars in lead roles in this CD might conjure up the heavy-handed "operatic" style produced by previous generations of opera singers trying to sing Broadway songs, but these performers sound like real Broadway singers. Jerry Hadley grew up in rural Illinois, and Frederica VonStade grew up in Brooklyn, NY, so their English is natural, and they are familiar with Broadway singing.

This recording is the closest we can come to traveling back to NYC in 1927 on opening night of "Showboat," but this performance has to be what Jerome Kern heard in his head as he was writing it.

i was leery of spending [money] on this version of showboat when i already had two other versions of it, but i am glad i did. this three cd boxed set provides the most complete version of the show and gives you the best sense of what jerome kern and oscar hammerstein had in mind for their epic 1927 broadway opera.

more than ever, after listening to this set, i am convinced that showboat, the first real broadway show, is still the best. were it ever to be done the way it was envisioned, it would be too long and controversial, but at the same time, cathartic and overwhelming. it would be too much for an overly sensitive and overly dulled and sated audience to handle.

at first i did not think i would like all the talking before and after the songs, but i got used to it and, with the musical bridges, it provides the context of the songs, continuity and a virtually complete story, like opera sets do.

i unqualifiedly recommend frederica von stade, the best magnolia since jan clayton, and also teresa stratas as julie. the other voices are good enough; some of the previous male leads, Gaylord and joe on earlier versions have maybe been better (robeson's and warfield's 'ol'man river' are still tops), but there is no bad voice on here, unless you count nancy culp as parthey -- she sounds like a cross between julia child and mr. bill, absolutely ridiculous.

the third cd in this set is a grab bag of various songs cut and pasted since the show was first performed, historical footnotes to an epic that started out as our musical 'gone with the wind', but which became more of a shallow minstrel show as producers and directors grew leery of its harsh racial content and did not know what to make of it.

i recommend you buy this if you collect versions of showboat or want to get a sense of what the show as originally conceived is really about, or just want some extended listening to beautiful music, beautifully arranged and performed.

Show Boat is surely a classic musical. If you're thinking about buying a recording, this IS The one to get. John McGlinn obviously loves this musical, and treats each note with the greatest care. All the rececitive is included, allmost all the numbers from Kern's manuscript are included (Except for 1 exception where 3 or 4 separate recordings exist for it) and in doing this, several numbers not previously recorded are on this set.

Buy it!

When PBS showed the 1989 Paper Mill Playhouse production of Showboat, my five year old daughter fell in love with musical theater. To this day we never miss a production of Showboat, West Side Story, Music Man, Oklahoma or the rest of the great American musicals. These 3 discs are the closest you can ever hear to the original in 1927 and the recordings are leaps and bounds above any movie version or revival cast. Listening to Bill or Make Believe you almost want to cry at what Kern and Hammerstein were able to create.

I defy anyone to come up with another Broadway production that has three songs in a row better than Make Believe, Ol' Man River and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (West Side Story's Maria, America and Tonight are the best three in a row of a movie musical) and it's a shame that no movie version of Showboat can compare to this version. The first act is full of songs that are as good as any ever sung on a stage and I can't think of another production with a first act that compete against the big 3 plus Cotton Blossom, Where's The Mate For Me, Life On The Wicked Stage, Till Good Luck Comes My Way, Misry's Comin' Aroun', You are Love, Act One finale and Why Do I Love You?. You just don't want to have the music stop.

If you don't like opera you won't like this version. Sung the way Kern and Hammerstein wrote them, you can't help but feel the operatic nature of these songs. Tough noogies because Showboat is above all an opera disguised as a Broadway play and no sweetening should be allowed.

The four leads are all superb, Frederica von Stade as Nola especially. The booklet contains the complete libretto and allows a different way to appreciate the music.

If you buy just one version of Showboat you need this one. If you have other versions of Showboat you need this one. As a matter of fact, anyone with ears to hear needs this version. A true American treasure.