“The singing is nice, but the staging is atrocious.” So remarked the couple sitting behind me at Target Margin’s production of Show/Boat: A River before walking out during intermission. They weren’t the only ones either. According to an usher I spoke with, approximately 65 people left the theater before Act Two. Thankfully for Director David Herskovits and the rest of the team behind this updated take on what is often cited as the first book musical, neither this underwhelmed couple nor their 63 potential allies are writing this review. I am.
This isn’t to say I didn’t have issues with this stylized adaptation of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s adaptation of Edna Ferber’s 1926 novel Showboat, I will get to the issues, but I found there was something interesting in watching a production so lacking in pretenses. The house lights often stayed up, characters wore sashes emblazoned with the word “white” to mark when they were playing a white character, and entered through doors labeled white and Black (set design by Kaye Voce). If it felt a bit disjointed that only added to the palpable feeling of the sweep of time (the show covers several decades of the lives of performers on the titular showboat).
A friend who also saw the show described the acting as “un-actorly”. It may have been un-actorly but it was still compelling. With their dancerly movements Tẹmídayọ Amay who played Frank and others was especially riveting. Rebbekkah Vega-Romero was also delightfully charming as ingenue turned Broadway star Magnolia and Alvin Crawford gave a powerful rendition of “‘Ol Man River” as Joe. The singing, as the couple behind me noted, was indeed nice (co-music director and vocal arranger Dionne McClain-Freeney, co-music director and orchestrator Dan Schlosberg).
But as interesting as this rendition was to watch, I couldn’t help but wonder about the intention behind choices that seemed, at times, solely intended to baffle the audience. With the set and sashes it certainly brought attention to race, but did it actually have anything to say about it? Act One sets up an interesting plot around interracial marriage, but this is largely abandoned in the sprawling Act Two. With the show now in the public domain why not give us the proper excavation the slashed through title promises? Why not show us more of the perspectives the original left out? Why not challenge our current paradigms around race in more than surface level ways?
I think it’s notable that even with this more diverse cast, the focus largely stays on two of the most light-skinned actors. Perhaps this was intentional but to me it felt like a missed opportunity if changing the focus was a goal of this piece. More troubling was the ease with which characters shed their “white” sashes when singing “Black” songs. Can whiteness be as easily shed as Show/Boat would have us believe? Seems like the fantasy of a white director more than a dramaturgically sound artistic choice.
In short, I found Show/Boat: A River a somewhat inscrutable, but enjoyable ride. I’ll be curious to see who’s next to get their hands on this messy, ambitious show. It may seem too problematic in both content and craft to keep staging, but one way or another, it just keeps rolling along.
This post was written by the author in their personal capacity.The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Theatre Times, their staff or collaborators.
This post was written by Morgan Skolnik.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.
