{"id":30296,"date":"2015-09-14T09:40:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T13:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=30296"},"modified":"2015-09-14T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-14T13:40:50","slug":"dvd-review-san-francisco-opera-does-show-boat-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/09\/14\/dvd-review-san-francisco-opera-does-show-boat-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"DVD REVIEW | San Francisco Opera Does Show Boat Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SHOWBOAT-DVD\"<\/h3>\n

San Francisco Opera:\u00a0Show Boat<\/em>: Music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.\u00a0San Francisco Opera Orchestra\/John DeMain.\u00a0EuroArts Blu-ray Disc 2059684 Total Time: 144:00.<\/h3>\n

The American musical theater enjoyed a Golden Age in the 1940s and 50s with classics such as Oklahoma, Carousel, West Side Story<\/em> and The Music Man.<\/em> 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<\/em> in 1927. Fresh and original in its use of early jazz and choices of themes that were distinctively American, Show Boat\u2019s <\/em>roots were still in operetta. This new DVD captures a performance \u2013 fine in nearly every way – given just last year by the San Francisco Opera (SFO).<\/p>\n

This production can legitimately be called \u201chistorically informed\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

John DeMain builds on McGlinn\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, being \u201chistorically informed\u201d in the case of Show Boat<\/em> also means that the \u2018n\u2019 word is used several times as it was in the original version.<\/p>\n

Show Boat<\/em> was daring for its time in attempting to depict relations between whites and blacks as they were in the 1920s. \u201cOl\u2019 Man River\u201d 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<\/em> was entertainment, it carried a powerful social message.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 she is the one authentic operatic star in the cast \u2013 but totally convincing as a veteran riverboat singer ultimately succumbing to alcoholism. Morris Robinson as Joe and Angela Ren\u00e9e Simpson as Queenie are black stereotypes but also carry forward the social message of the musical \u2013 especially Joe in \u201cOl\u2019 Man River.\u201d Both singers are first-rate.<\/p>\n

This Blu-ray DVD contains interviews with the director, conductor and leading cast members.<\/p>\n

EuroArts is collaborating with San Francisco Opera in releasing DVDs of five recent SFO productions. In addition to Show Boat<\/em>, Heggie\u2019s Moby Dick<\/em>, Donizetti\u2019s Lucrezia Borgia <\/em>(with Ren\u00e9e Fleming), Gershwin\u2019s Porgy and Bess<\/em>, and Bellini\u2019s I Capuleti e I Montecchi<\/em> (with Joyce DiDonato) are now available.<\/p>\n

Blu-Ray available for purchase\u00a0at Amazon.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter <\/em>here<\/a><\/em><\/span> and follow us on <\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n

[starbos id=”Paul E Robinson”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New DVD captures a performance \u2013 fine in nearly every way \u2013 given just last year by the San Francisco Opera (SFO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":30299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,43,52],"tags":[5572,5570,5573],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/09\/SHOWBOAT-DVD.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-7SE","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30296"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30296"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30305,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30296\/revisions\/30305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30296"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=30296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}