Showboat is Back!
Since we’ve been talking about older musicals for the last few weeks, I noticed right away when I saw the review for Showboat in Arlington Virginia. This is a show that has been well-loved for many years and we can certainly enjoy it still. The music is still beautiful and easy to recognize. This version even has a smaller cast than the earlier ones and they changed some things in the book and the music so that it would become a bit more modern and interesting. Showboat, however, is an old fashioned style piece, with songs and themes that a current audience won’t be touched by, it would appear. They aren’t as good with the racial inequality part of things as we might hope today. People still love this show, but it’s just a bit out of date, which is what will keep it from having a huge revival in its current form.
