San Francisco Opera: Show Boat: Music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. San Francisco Opera Orchestra/John DeMain. EuroArts Blu-ray Disc 2059684 Total Time: 144:00.
The American musical theater enjoyed a Golden Age in the 1940s and 50s with classics such as Oklahoma, Carousel, West Side Story and The Music Man. There was more to come during that period and later when Stephen Sondheim opened up a vast new world of words and music, but before all that, there was Show Boat in 1927. Fresh and original in its use of early jazz and choices of themes that were distinctively American, Show Boat’s roots were still in operetta. This new DVD captures a performance – fine in nearly every way – given just last year by the San Francisco Opera (SFO).
This production can legitimately be called “historically informed”. Conductor John McGlinn did the tough research to reassemble the original 1927 orchestrations; based on these, he made a superb recording (EMI CDCC 49108) in 1988 with a cast headed by Frederica von Stade and Teresa Stratas.
John DeMain builds on McGlinn’s pioneering work and leads a performance that strives to be authentic to the period. Stage director Francesca Zambello has worked to recreate the look of the original production, although the rapid and almost seamless scene changes would likely have been impossible in 1927. The singers are not allowed any liberties with the vocal lines and appear to be restricted to an acting style that can seem stilted and artificial by modern standards, but the dramatic moments in this production still have plenty of punch.
Incidentally, being “historically informed” in the case of Show Boat also means that the ‘n’ word is used several times as it was in the original version.
Show Boat was daring for its time in attempting to depict relations between whites and blacks as they were in the 1920s. “Ol’ Man River” has endured as a classic American song, but it is clearly a black protest song. The evils of segregation and the exploitation of black people are major themes in this ground-breaking work. Although Show Boat was entertainment, it carried a powerful social message.
The leads, soprano Heidi Stober as Magnolia Hawks and baritone Michael Todd Simpson as Gaylord Ravenal, are both excellent. Their operatic voices enrich the material without overpowering it. Similarly, soprano Patricia Racette as Julie La Verne is luxury casting – she is the one authentic operatic star in the cast – but totally convincing as a veteran riverboat singer ultimately succumbing to alcoholism. Morris Robinson as Joe and Angela Renée Simpson as Queenie are black stereotypes but also carry forward the social message of the musical – especially Joe in “Ol’ Man River.” Both singers are first-rate.
This Blu-ray DVD contains interviews with the director, conductor and leading cast members.
EuroArts is collaborating with San Francisco Opera in releasing DVDs of five recent SFO productions. In addition to Show Boat, Heggie’s Moby Dick, Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia (with Renée Fleming), Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi (with Joyce DiDonato) are now available.
Blu-Ray available for purchase at Amazon.ca
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