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.