SHOW BOAT
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

Opened 16 December, 2015
****

Daniel Evans’ Christmas revivals of classic musicals are the highlight of Sheffield’s theatrical calendar. However, for his last festive season before he moves on to take the artistic helm at Chichester, Evans has opted not for the usual feelgood frolic, but for a piece in which sentiment only just wins out over sombreness.

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1927 show is usually considered the first modern musical, in which songs were not gratuitous interpolations but served to advance narrative and develop character. Its story of romance aboard a Mississippi showboat in the late 19th century also sits atop a deeply serious subject, that of racial prejudice in the American South. (Most occurrences of the N-word have now been excised from the script and lyrics, leaving just enough to remind us that it was a common term less than a century ago.) We inadvertently show the issue’s currency, too, by listening respectfully to the first part of the opening number about (as it’s now worded) the “coloured folk” then bursting into applause when Lez Brotherston’s gorgeous set of the showboat appears, filled with, er, the white folks. But the show’s two stand-out numbers are both “race songs”, even when sung by white characters (and, of course, written by white men): both “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” and, of course, “Ol’ Man River” seem to get around half a dozen reprises apiece.

Allan Corduner and Lucy Briers, in the virtually unsinging roles of the couple who run the boat, seem almost to get more stage time than Gina Beck as their daughter and Michael Xavier as the dapper gambler she falls for. At least three other plot strands are also given respectable attention, making this in effect an ensemble piece to reinforce the social attitudes it endorses. In fact, the highlight of Alistair David’s choreography, the Act One wedding finale, involves a cakewalk by the black men in the company being interrupted by Sandra Marvin as the formidable Queenie, who energetically insists that all colours and sexes join in together.

Written for the Financial Times.

Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.

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