Show Boat

Saw this in its final week, and thank goodness I managed to squeeze it in. What a production, just what a production. A delight, with the depths of this iconic show honoured. Such a lovely watch, such a wonderful production.

The thrill of an actor’s life, the restlessness of the river, the inevitable passage and changes of time; because those are the predominant senses when watching this beautiful production, the fact that this is one of the deepest musicals in London almost passes you by. Almost. The wonder of Evans’ production is that Evans’ sense of musicality gives this a lightness, a simplicity, a watchable-ness that belies its reputation as a piece of history, and puts character over context – this isn’t to say the historical context is in any way sidelined, as in fact the reality of the book’s look at race and sex is far more interesting when the characters in the middle of the fractious time come first. The simple, streamlined set gives such a streamlined sense of time and place which works a charm, and with time and place effortlessly established the transgression of the script is good to go, Evans' primary innovation being to bring the women wholly upstage and make this all about them, hardly at all about the Gaylords of the world. By putting the women first and foremost, it manages to say as much about society’s treatment of gender at the fin de siècle as it does about society’s treatment of race. It’s so elegant that it’s so easy to watch, and that makes it so powerful.

The ideas of the strength of these women in a much weaker time, and the racism so accepted it’s terrifyingly everyday and almost mundane, surprise and shock, respectively. As Evans directors, this is still relevant as emotional entertainment, as opposed to merely musical significance. It’s nice that Evans has the confidence in his audience to work this out for themselves. It snaps along – as does life, as does showbiz – so, more strikingly than hammering home the point, the casual nature of these attitudes comes across so terrifyingly with hindsight. Having said that, some moments were depressingly, unforgivably modern – a bit like Les Blancs, lines that should be dated weren’t, and like Les Blancs they were given fair prominence and had time taken to shock us not just in their content but in their modernity. Evans brings out the best of Hammerstein’s book, but he does so with such subtlety and musicality that all I thought when watching was “Blimey, I’d forgotten how many great songs are in this show”.

Enough has been said about what a uniformly wonderful cast it is, but let’s just repeat it. Dramatically, the characters are fleshed out with sensitivity and understanding. Musically, blimey they can’t half belt! Uniformly, what a wonderful cast.

Show Boat may occupy such a serious slot in musical theatre history, but this production was full of lightness and life. Evans does wonders through simplicity and wonderful casting. This production did justice to the great depths of this great musical, but it equally did justice to its theatricality and musicality. It was just a glorious watch, just glorious, absolutely glorious.  It sits somewhere alongside She Stoops and Nell Gwynn as one of those shows I'll turn to when I'm low on Vitamin D, which is not to say it undersold the poor treatment of race and women, but it over-emphasised the togetherness, warmth and humanity.  I suppose what I'm saying is there's a Gaylord in us all.

And let’s start calling her Dame Rebecca Trehearn, shall we?