{"id":12794,"date":"2014-06-25T14:34:49","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T21:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=12794"},"modified":"2014-06-25T14:34:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T21:34:49","slug":"operas-historic-show-boat-boasts-old-timey-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/operas-historic-show-boat-boasts-old-timey-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Opera\u2019s historic \u201cShow Boat\u201d boasts old-timey music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:3.5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Morris Robinson (Joe) sings \u201cOl\u2019 Man River,\u201d with chorus behind him, in \u201cShow Boat.\u201d Photo: \u00a9Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Among 14 principals in \u201cShow Boat\u201d are (from left, foreground) Kirsten Wyatt (Ellie Mae Chipley), John Bolton (Frank Schultz), Bill Irwin (Cap’n Andy), Patricia Racette (Julie La Verne) and Patrick Cummings (Steve Baker). Photo: \u00a9Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Soprano Heidi Stober (Magnolia Hawks) and baritone Michael Todd Simpson (Gaylord Ravenal) find love in \u201cShow Boat.\u201d Photo: \u00a9Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

As a young buck, I\u2019d often catch performances at the New York City Opera or the Met.<\/p>\n

Embarrassing to admit, my tastes ran to the ultra-popular.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d see \u201cCarmen,\u201d \u201cFigaro,\u201d \u201cMadama Butterfly\u201d and \u201cRigoletto\u201d and the like \u2014 again and again.<\/p>\n

And if someone hinted I substitute part of Wagner\u2019s \u201cRing\u201d cycle, or experimental compositions such as Alban Berg\u2019s \u201cLulu\u201d or Dimitri Shostakovich\u2019s \u201cLady Macbeth of the Misensk District,\u201d I\u2019d recoil.<\/p>\n

Then, a budding love of jazz replaced opera in my entertainment life.<\/p>\n

Almost entirely.<\/p>\n

But seeing \u201cShow Boat,\u201d the new, panoramic San Francisco Opera production, makes me want to re-think my predilections.<\/p>\n

And even venture beyond opera\u2019s Top 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow Boat\u201d certainly isn\u2019t opera \u2014 and not truly an operetta either.<\/p>\n

But it compares favorably with many of both when discussing spectacle, especially considering Paul Tazewell\u2019s multi-hued costuming and Peter Davison\u2019s resourcefully mobile sets.<\/p>\n

And the musical\u2019s 60-plus performers.<\/p>\n

Happily, no one bumps into anyone else \u2014 unlike an opera I saw not long ago in Vienna, where the stage was so crowded by supernumeraries none could move.<\/p>\n

To me, the most satisfying takeaway from \u201cShow Boat\u201d is the historical perspective it offers.<\/p>\n

Followed by Bill Irwin\u2019s antics.<\/p>\n

The musical about life on the Mississippi had expanded theatrical parameters in its 1927 debut by introducing seriousness to Broadway houses that were previously rife with Ziegfeld\u2019s \u201cFollies\u201d and similar girlie shows, implausible operettas or thoughtless musical comedies.<\/p>\n

It may seem tame today, but \u201cShow Boat\u201d also confronted racism and miscegenation then by injecting an interracial love story.<\/p>\n

Merely providing a storyline, in fact, broke new ground.<\/p>\n

As for Irwin, the Tony Award-winner plays Andy Hawks, the floating theater\u2019s captain, and steals every scene he\u2019s in by stretching his rubber-ish body in ways that ensure all audience eyes stay on him.<\/p>\n

This marks Irwin\u2019s second San Francisco Opera appearance. His first was in \u201cTurandot\u201d as an acrobatic, when he was with the Pickle Family Circus.<\/p>\n

Two more comic \u201cShow Boat\u201d sensations are Kirsten Wyatt as Ellie Mae Chipley and Harriet Harris as Parthy Ann Hawks.<\/p>\n

Wyatt uses her squeaky voice as a laugh-inducing tool, much like the one Kristin Chenoweth rode to fame in \u201cWicked,\u201d and Harris utilizes a gruff persona not unlike that of Bebe, the agent-manager she played on TV\u2019s \u201cFrasier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Jerome Kern\u2019s old-timey music (and Oscar Hammerstein II\u2019s lyrics) may be as familiar as modern-day hits by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tunes such as \u201cOl\u2019 Man River,\u201d \u201cCan\u2019t Help Loving\u2019 Dat Man\u201d and \u201cMake Believe.\u201d Others (\u201cHey, Feller\u201d and \u201cDance Away the Night,\u201d for instance), I don\u2019t remember hearing before \u2014 despite seeing the show in New York years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOl\u2019 Man River,\u201d of course, is a tune nearly everyone walks out singing, humming or whistling.<\/p>\n

Few know it became Kern\u2019s good luck charm. He purportedly played it each time he left for a trip.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And again when he returned.<\/p>\n

Few also know Hammerstein\u2019s wife claimed it was \u201cmy husband who wrote \u2018Ol\u2019 Man River.\u2019 Jerry Kern only wrote dum-di-dah-dah, di-dum-di-dah-dah.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the revival\u2019s opening, several white-haired theatergoers equated Morris Robinson\u2019s show-stopping \u201cOl\u2019 Man River\u201d to those of James Earl Jones and Paul Robeson.<\/p>\n

More strong voices?<\/p>\n

Check out the soprano tones of Heidi Stober as Magnolia Hawks, and baritone Michael Todd Simpson as her suitor, Gaylord Revenal.<\/p>\n

Musical director John DeMain blends everything as smoothly as a perfect gimlet.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s not ignore the dancing in \u201cShow Boat,\u201d a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera and Houston Grand Opera.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s dazzling.<\/p>\n

Choreography by Michele Lynch shrewdly melds old hat with a touch of modernity.<\/p>\n

David Gockley, company general director (who previously staged \u201cShow Boat\u201d in 1982 and again in 1989 with the Houston company), says the new production is \u201cthe way the creators conceived\u201d it. While director Francesca Zambello notes the original show employed a black and white chorus in an era when black cast members couldn\u2019t even have their own families in the audience.<\/p>\n

“Show Boat,\u201d remember, trail-blazed the way for George and Ira Gershwin\u2019s \u201cPorgy and Bess\u201d \u2014 and countless other musical works.<\/p>\n

In a sense, though, it\u2019s like a treasured 1927 photo album brought to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow Boat,\u201d which runs in repertory with \u201cLa Traviata\u201d and \u201cMadama Butterfly,\u201d will play at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave. (at Grove Street), San Francisco, through July 2. Tickets: $24 to $379 (subject to change). Information: www.sfopera.com<\/a> or 864-3330.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:3.5] As a young buck, I\u2019d often catch performances at the New York City Opera or the Met. Embarrassing to admit, my tastes ran to the ultra-popular. I\u2019d see…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"