Once again, the New York Philharmonic has proved itself to be the place to hear great American musicals performed the way God intended. This time, it’s giving Show Boat the the full orchestral treatment. Jerome Kern’s robust score is as mighty as the Mississippi in the hands of Ted Sperling, who serves as both conductor and director.
In past seasons, the Philharmonic has been a great place to see a great musical. Last year’s radical staging of Sweeney Todd opened with the actors (among them Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel) literally throwing out the playbook and allowed them to tear pell-mell through the orchestra, turning over grand pianos and slathering musicians in fake blood along the way.
However, the Phil has played it much safer by deciding to mount a semi-staging of Show Boat rather than a full theatrical production. It’s a shame, since the musical has such a controversial history. Set on a Southern riverboat called the Cotton Blossom in the 1880s, it follows the lives of its black and white inhabitants over the span of four decades. The plot features an interracial marriage and career destroyed by miscegenation laws, two lovers torn apart by a gambling habit, and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II that includes liberal use of the n-word by its racist white characters.
But while the music sounds gorgeous – the classic Old Man River, lead by Norm Lewis in the role of Joe, sent chills down the spine with each reprise – the lack of visuals starts to tell. The only scenery that suggests that the musical takes place on a boat is a large picture of, well, a boat, tacked up to the back of the stage. The actors and dancers are given a small strip of stage in front of the orchestra to do their thing, and there isn’t much in the way of costumes.
The good news, though, is that the ensemble does a marvellous job with the limited space they’re given to roam. Jane Alexander and Fred Willard make a delightfully batty pair as Parthy Anne and Captain Andy, the white couple who own and operate the Cotton Blossom, while Vanessa Williams brings gravitas to the role of Julie, their star performer whose career is destroyed by racism. Christopher Fitzgerald provides excellent comic relief as Frank; his dancing was as elastic as a rubbber band and his acting just as snappy.
But the real revelation is Downton Abbey’s Julian Ovenden as Gaylord Ravenal, the rakish gambler who steals the heart of Andy and Parthy’s daughter, Magnolia, then coldly casts it away. Ovenden has a caramelly, full-bodied voice reminiscent of leading men of yesteryear. I too would make poor life choices because of that voice.
Show Boat was radical stuff for 1927, when it first opened on Broadway, and even with the countless revisions made to suit the changing times of its almost century-long lifespan, in 2014 it still manages to raise uncomfortable questions about race, gender, class and geography. If anyone could have reignited that spirit of upheaval, it ought to have been the Phil. But instead, they decided to just cruise through it.
