Show Boat

Saw this last night and enjoyed it although it felt a bit small scale in terms of cast numbers. "Old Man River" was sung by Joe and five other guys with a couple of ladies dropping in to add their voices. It was underpowered and, hence, not the showstopper it should be. On the up side, we had the understudy Joe, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, who possesses a rich bass-baritone voice and who nailed the song's low notes, something, I gather, that the regular Joe has a problem with.

Gina Beck was the star of the show and quite perfect in every way and I also liked Chris Peluso's Ravenal. His voice and hers were a great blend and I thought he handled his underwritten role extremely well. Btw, I loved the way the ending was staged, that problematic reunion scene. Director Daniel Evans got it exactly right.

Rebecca Trehearn was out and her understudy was not able to infuse "Bill" with the required magic, which was disappointing, but the rest of the main cast were certainly impressive. I loved Sandra Marvin's Queenie and Malcolm Sinclair's Captain Andy - talk about making the most of your part!

Act Two is always going to be a problem but Evans's solutions seemed appropriate. The time compression after the Trocadero scene was inventively done although one wished he had had more resources at his disposal. In the last Broadway incarnation of this show, the Hal Prince production, the passing years were indicated via a massive dance number, the music and the dance steps changing with the times from the sedate cakewalk to the hot jazz of the twenties. But every staging of Showboat is going to be different in this section of the show.

This is a fine production of a great, if somewhat troublesome, musical. Well done to all concerned.

Didn't it! Still holding out hope for a cast recording.

Someone should have written in to ask them!

And here is the link

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw2b9/episodes/player

Well, it is good (meaning I'll take it!), but no, it is not studio recording quality. I suppose it must have been done to use as background audio on the promo videos.  Which might mean Ol' Man River exists somewhere, too.

Can't wait for this tommrow, does anyone know where the cast board is at the new London? 

I love seeing shows I know nothing about. Hope you enjoy!

I did have one question, as I haven't really been keeping up with this thread as I actually did want a surprise going into it. What kind of genre is it? Comedy? Drama? Simply one of those "boop-boop-de-doop" musicals?

Oh good, I'm glad then, I was in the mood for something a bit darker today haha, spur of the moment worked in my favor then!

Not the best start, an old woman just fell down the stairs in the stalls and bashed her shoulder against the stage. Poor thing.

Hope you enjoying the show.
There been an understudy on as Joe for a while. Illness I believe.
How busy is it?

Well, interval thoughts, its a beautiful show! The set, costumes, overall design really is gorgeous! When those wooden panels raised at the beginning, the set actually took my breath away. The performances are great all around, its a pretty phenomenal cast. Gina and Chris are such a great pairing together!it is a great balance of comedy and drama, it is defiantly alot deeper but also more comedic when I expected. I am so, so glad I chose spur of the moment to see this and went in with no knowledge!

Audience is about 80% full in the stalls I'd say, the ends of the balcony I can see are empty bar a couple of people. It was funny, once the lights went down, you just saw all the people at the far ends of the stalls near the wall of the stage move more central, almost like a wave!