Audio CD review:
Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II - Show Boat (1993 Toronto Revival Cast)

Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II - Show Boat (1993 Toronto Revival Cast)

Band: Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II Title: Show Boat (1993 Toronto Revival Cast) Rating: Release Date: 28 June, 1994 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Overture 2: Cotton Blossom/Cap'n Andy's Ballyhoo 3: Make Believe 4: Ol' Man River 5: Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man 6: Till Good Luck Comes My Way 7: Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun' 8: I Have the Room Above 9: Life upon the Wicked Stage 10: Queenie's Ballyhoo 11: You Are Love 12: Actone Finale- The Wedding Celebration 13: Entr'acte 14: Why Do I Love You?/ Montage I: The Sports of Gay Chicago 15: Alma Redemptoris Mater 16: Bill 17: Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Reprise) 18: Good Bye, My Lady Love 19: After the Ball 20: Montage II: Ol' Man River 21: Kim's Charleston 22: Act Two: Finale

Editoral Review It also featured some of the most splendid songs ever written for the legitimate stage, both building on the operetta and music-hall past, and presaging plot-advancement and character-development numbers (which took another quantum leap in Oklahoma). When this Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics and libretto, based on Edna Ferber's novel) show premiered in 1927 it powerfully changed the course of musicals by being about something: the sweep of 40 years of American history, racial tensions and relations (including miscegenation), even spousal and parental abandonment. "Make Believe," "Why Do I Love You?" and "Ol' Man River" became standards almost at first hearing, and the production was a hit in spite of the controversy surrounding it. Show Boat suffered only from the lack of sophisticated recording techniques to preserve the original performances, although Helen Morgan (who played the mulatto Julie) later recorded her signature song "Bill. " Three movie versions and countless stage revivals kept Show Boat alive and popular--although bowdlerized--for almost 50 years without a definitive recording. (The 1971 production, with Cleo Laine as Julie, came closest. ) But it's all here, in the 1994 Toronto recording whose cast transferred almost intact to Broadway. It's a glorious rendering from start to finish, with Rebecca Luker and Mark Jacoby as good as any Magnolia and Gaylord Ravenal we're ever likely to hear. And, I'm sorry Helen and Cleo, but Lonette McKee's "Bill" (with lyrics by P G. Wodehouse) is the most wrenching rendition I've ever heard. --Robert Windeler .. You can see a complete list of all Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II discography, or go back to the Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II tabs