Theatre Register
Show Boat

Show Boat

Shows · Show Boat

Their efforts resulted in a recognized landmark in the history of the theatre, one that broke ground in steering a course away from lightweight musical comedy and overweight operetta. Their characters were more three-dimensional, the music was more skillfully integrated into the libretto, and their plot dared to deal with such unaccustomed subjects as unhappy marriages, miscegenation, and the hard life of black steve…

Opened
1927
Performances
572
Type
Musical
Era
Early
Music: Jerome KernLyrics: Oscar Hammerstein IIBook: Oscar Hammerstein II

Productions12 on Broadway

1927 Ziegfeld Theatre Original. December 27, 1927 · Zeke Colvan 572 performances
1928 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane Transfer. May 3, 1928
1932 Casino Theatre Revival. May 19, 1932 180 performances
1932 Transfer Theatre not recorded.
1946 Ziegfeld Theatre Revival. January 5, 1946 · Hassard Short 418 performances
1946 Transfer Theatre not recorded.
1948 City Center Revival. September 7, 1948 15 performances
1954 City Center Revival. May 5, 1954 · William Hammerstein 15 performances
1983 Uris Theatre Revival. April 24, 1983 · Michael Kahn 73 performances
1994 Gershwin Theatre Revival. October 2, 1994 · Harold Prince 947 performances
1998 Transfer Theatre not recorded. November 7, 2024
2016 Transfer Theatre not recorded. February 11, 2016

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 6 entries

US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature43 passages

Through the influence of Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat, Broadway’s first serious attempt at a modern musical play, creators of musicals began showing greater concern for the stories and the way music and lyrics augmented and embellished them. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p11

Another hopeful sign is the number of opera companies that have added musical theatre works to their repertoires. Not only does this help break down artificial barriers, it also creates new audiences for such notable examples as the Kern-Hammerstein Show Boat , the Gershwin-Heyward Porgy and Bess , the Rodgers-Hammerst… book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p13

Because of their admiration for Helen Morgan’s performance in Show Boat, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein collaborated on a nostalgic musical designed as a vehicle to show off the singer’s talents. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p74

The original production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927, for 572 performances; a 1932 revival played for 180 showings; and a slightly revised 1946 Broadway revival ran for 418 performances and included a new song (the last Kern ever wrote, the charming “Nobody Else But Me”); book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p385

were two Broadway revivals in 1983 (73 performances) and 1994 (949 performances). The latter was perhaps the most definitive Show Boat seen since the original production, and included the deleted “Mis’ry’s Comin’ ’Round,” which had previously been heard just one time, at the musical’s first tryout performance at the Na… book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p386

After creating the role of Julie Jordan in the original Broadway production of Carousel in 1945 and appearing as Magnolia the following year in the long-running revival of Show Boat , her Broadway career was for all purposes over. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p533

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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