Is Show Boat based on a true story?
It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927.
Did Edna write the Show Boat?
Show Boat was adapted as a Broadway musical in 1927 by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II....Show Boat (novel)First edition (US)AuthorEdna FerberPublication date1926Media typePrint (Hardcover)Pages341 pp3 more rows
When was Show Boat written?
1926Show Boat, popular sentimental novel by Edna Ferber, published in 1926. The book chronicles three generations of a theatrical family who perform and live on a Mississippi River steamboat. It was the basis of a successful Broadway musical and has been produced several times for film and television.
How many versions of Show Boat are there?
There have been three movie versions, but the best one — James Whale's 1936 production — has only just been released on DVD. Show Boat was the first great serious Broadway musical.
Was Showboat based on a book?
Edna Ferber (1885–1968) was a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and playwright.
Where did the term Showboat come from?
The term comes from a type of riverboat that travelled throughout the southern United States in the nineteenth century. Showboats were gaudy floating theatres, heavily adorned and over-embellished, with the purpose of bringing entertainment in the form of plays or music to people that lived along the waterfront.
Who wrote Show Boat 1926?
Edna FerberShow Boat / AuthorEdna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big, Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace, which also received a film adaptation in 1960. Wikipedia
Did Ava Gardner do her own singing in Show Boat?
Although Annette Warren dubbed Ava Gardner's singing voice in the movie, Ms. Gardner herself sang her two songs on the MGM soundtrack album.
Who first produced Show Boat?
Oscar Hammerstein IIProduced by Oscar Hammerstein II and directed by Florenz Ziegfeld, the first production of Show Boat was previewed in a one-month pre-Broadway tour taking in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Philadelphia before opening at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway on 27 December 1927.
What was perhaps the most controversial element of Show Boat?
As a result of all of these factors, Show Boat was revised within a year of its Broadway bow before it moved to London's West End. Its most controversial element was undoubtedly its first lyric, which included the n-word, and it went through several replacements beginning in 1928 when it premiered on the West End.
Did Irene Dunne do her own singing in Show Boat?
When the film musical came back into favor in 1935, Dunne starred with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Jerome Kern's Roberta, the film in which she sang "Don't Ever Leave Me" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." It was not until the following year that she recreated her stage role in the film version of Show Boat.
Where was Show Boat filmed?
Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA (studio) (studio: made in Hollywood, U.S.A.)
Who wrote the song "Nobody else but me"?
Nobody Else but Me. Dance Away the Night. I Still Suits Me. Music wrote J. Kern , the script and the lyrics belong to the legendary O. Hammerstein II. Musical is performed in two acts and is based on the eponymous bestseller of E. Ferber. The latter in an original manner tells about the life of the artists, stage workers and members of the crew ...
When was the Broadway premiere of The Musical?
Broadway premiere of the musical took place on December 27, 1927 in the Ziegfeld Theatre.
Who wrote the song "Bill" for the show boat?
The score also includes four songs not originally written for Show Boat: " Bill " was originally written by Kern and P. G. Wodehouse in 1917 and was reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat. Two other songs not by Kern and Hammerstein, "Goodbye, My Lady Love" by Joseph E. Howard and " After the Ball " by Charles K. Harris, were included by the authors for historical atmosphere and are included in revivals. The New Year's Eve scene features an instrumental version of " There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight ".
Who wrote the show boat?
After being assured by Kern that he did not want to adapt it as the typical frivolous "girlie" show of the 1920s, she granted him and his collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II the rights to set her novel to music. After composing most of the first-act songs, Kern and Hammerstein auditioned their material for producer Florenz Ziegfeld, thinking that he was the person to create the elaborate production they felt necessary for Ferber's sprawling work. Ziegfeld was impressed with the show and agreed to produce it, writing the next day, "This is the best musical comedy I have ever been fortunate to get a hold of; I am thrilled to produce it, this show is the opportunity of my life..." Show Boat, with its serious and dramatic nature, was considered an unusual choice for Ziegfeld, who was best known for revues such as the Ziegfeld Follies .
What is the show boat based on?
Olivier Award for Best Revival. Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber 's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name.
What songs were cut from the original Broadway show?
During previews, four songs, " Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun ", "I Would Like to Play a Lover's Part", "Let's Start the New Year" and "It's Getting Hotter in the North", were cut from the show. "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun" was published in the complete vocal score and fragments of it are also heard in the scoring, notably in the original 1927 overture and in the miscegenation scene. The song "Be Happy, Too" was also cut after the Washington, D.C., tryout. "Let's Start the New Year" was performed in the 1989 Paper Mill Playhouse production.
What is the theme of the musical Cotton Blossom?
Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love.
How many times was Show Boat adapted for radio?
Show Boat was adapted for live radio at least seven times. Due to network censorship rules, many of the radio productions eliminated the miscegenation aspect of the plot. Notable exceptions were the 1940 Cavalcade of America broadcast and the 1952 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
Why was Show Boat cancelled?
Since the musical's 1927 premiere, Show Boat has both been condemned as a prejudiced show based on racial caricatures and championed as a breakthrough work that opened the door for public discourse in the arts about racism in America. Some productions (including one planned for June 2002 in Connecticut) have been cancelled because of objections. Such cancellations have been criticized by supporters of the arts. After planned performances in 1999 by an amateur company in Middlesbrough, England, where "the show would entail white actors 'blacking up' " were "stopped because [they] would be 'distasteful' to ethnic minorities", the critic for a local newspaper declared that the cancellation was "surely taking political correctness too far. … [T]he kind of censorship we've been talking about – for censorship it is – actually militates against a truly integrated society, for it emphasizes differences. It puts a wall around groups within society, dividing people by creating metaphorical ghettos, and prevents mutual understanding".
Showboat
Amid a failed relationship, the song describes a man’s struggle to express feelings and vulnerabilities. Trying to hide the pain, he confines himself within the traditional… Read More
About
Amid a failed relationship, the song describes a man’s struggle to express feelings and vulnerabilities.
Storyline
The "Cotton Blossom", owned by the Hawk family, is the show boat everyone goes to for great musical entertainment down south. Julie LaVerne and her husband are the stars of the show.
Did you know
Director George Sidney had to leave for a few days because of illness, so uncredited associate producer Roger Edens directed the fog-enshrouded "departure" sequence, including William Warfield 's performance of "Ol' Man River." That scene has been praised even by critics who hate this version of "Show Boat."
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By what name was Show Boat (1951) officially released in India in English?
Overview
Racial issues
Show Boat boldly portrayed racial issues and was the first racially integrated musical, in that both black and white performers appeared and sang on stage together. Ziegfeld's Follies featured solo African American performers such as Bert Williams, but would not have included a black woman in the chorus. Show Boat was structured with two choruses – a black chorus and a white chorus. One commentator noted that "Hammerstein uses the African-American chorus as essentially a G…
Background
In doing research for her proposed novel Show Boat, writer Edna Ferber spent five days on the James Adams Floating Palace Theatre in Bath, North Carolina, gathering material about a disappearing American entertainment venue, the river showboat. In a few weeks, she gained what she called a "treasure trove of show-boat material, human, touching, true". Ferber researched these American showboats for months prior to her stay on the Floating Palace Theatre. Jerome …
Synopsis
Note: Although the basic plot of Show Boat has always remained the same, over the years revisions and alterations were made by the creators, and over time by subsequent producers and directors. Some of these revisions were for length and some for convenience, as when a different actor played a certain role and was unable to perform a specialty piece written for the role's creator. Some have been made to reflect contemporary sensitivities toward race, gender and oth…
Musical numbers
The musical numbers in the original production were as follows:
The original production ran four-and-a-half hours during tryouts but was trimmed to just over three by the time it got to Broadway. During previews, four songs, "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun", "I Would Like to Play a Lover's Part", "Let's Start the New Year" and "It's Getting Hotter in the North", were cut from the show. "Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun" was published in the complete vocal score and fragment…
Production history
Ziegfeld previewed the show in a pre-Broadway tour from November 15 to December 19, 1927. The locations included the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Nixon Theatre in Pittsburgh, the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland, and the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia. The show opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927. The critics were immediately enthusiastic, and …
Adaptations
Show Boat has been adapted for film three times, and for television once.
• 1929 Show Boat. Universal. Released in silent and partial sound versions. Not a film version of the musical; its plot is based on the original Edna Ferber novel. Immediately after the silent film was completed, a prologue with some music from the show was filmed and added to a part-talkie version of the same film, …
Selected recordings
• 1928 – original London cast album, with the show's original orchestrations. This was released in England on 78 rpm records years before being sold in the United States. Because the U.S. had not yet begun making original cast albums of Broadway shows, the 1927 Broadway cast as a whole was never recorded performing the songs, although Jules Bledsoe, Helen Morgan, and Tess Gardel…