Show Boat

Loved this! Old-fashioned (except in the scene where the action breaks the bounds of the stage) but wonderful!

It certainly felt more old-fashioned than the Hal Prince version that played Los Angeles in Christmas of 1996. That version, focused on the mechanical enduring slavery of the myriad black workers on an enormous ship of a stage felt very modern by comparison, in the way it reevaluated every pore of the musical as a critique of white racism.

This version feels more love-focused, 1895-old-fashioned in a sense, refecting opera, La boheme's comparing and contrasting, of idyllic romantic relations that dissolve, with pragmatic romantic relations that endure.

Reflecting Mimi, Julie's and Magnolia's idealism sets them on a course of suffering, whereas reflecting Musetta, the pragmatism of Queenie and Ellie and Parthy protects them from the worst of the rolling river of Father Time's ravages.

I focus on these five women because for me, they are the wonder of this production, with five actresses offering five indelible unforgettable performances.

Almost 20 years ago, it was the men I admired in Hal Prince's show, the burly enormous Michel Bell fatalistically and brutally belting out "Ol' Man River" in the deepest, sturdiest and steadiest ship of a voice I ever heard, and Ned Beatty as a livewire Captain Andy, a sparky showman who never let aging slow his show. Then the women seemed less important. . .

Here the reverse is true. Emmanuel Kojo has the barritone belt for the deepest notes of "Ol' Man River," but his voice falters mid-range, which he mostly makes up for with a deep lyrical sensitivity. Lacking Ned Beatty's pizzazz, Malcolm Sinclair is deliberate and doddery as Captain Andy, which is endearing and cosy, and bolsters the old-fashioned feel of the production. Chris Peluso hits his notes gamely and gracefully as Gaylord, but his part is small, and he shines mostly by reflection of the passion of his leading lady. Out of the men, it is Danny Collins who makes the biggest impression as Frank Schultz, his raucous infectious enthusiasm humanising the shallow showman he plays.

Where the men are good, the women tower. They are magnificent.

As Julie, Rebecca Trehearne's warm full voice reverberates with desperate passion through every note of "Bill" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." Gina Beck stops the show with her superb "After the Ball," which builds in drama from beginning to end, aided by it's excellent staging, that spills into the entire auditorium. Beck's sad stately reprise of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is as moving as Trehearne's effervescent and exciting earlier version, and reveals just how malleable and open to interpretation this classic song is. Alex Young lights up the stage with "Life Upon a Wicked Stage" and (accompanied nimbly by Danny Collins) makes vivacious hay of her "Goodbye My Lady Love" dance. Just as the show seems to be winding down, Sandra Marvin, as Queenie, stops the show for a second time with a dazzling, moving and accomplished "Hey Feller." And Lucy Briars seemingly does almost nothing at all to completely steal every scene she's in, so much does she embody the Show Boat's powerful grouchy matriarch, Parthy.

With just a slight caveat about the old-fashioned feel of the production, which is like travelling in a time machine back to wallow in a forgotten age of golden age musical classics, and propelled by the strongest female musical ensemble in ages, I absolutely loved this!

4 and a half stars.

Steve, I saw that same 1995/96 production - not in LA but Toronto, where Robert Morse played Captain Andy (not well, he was replaced) - and you're so right about Michel Bell standing out as Joe. He was the one who garnered all the big reviews and ended up winning a Tony Award - check out his performance at the Tonys on YouTube.  Yet you're the first person here to even mention the name of the actor playing Joe in the current production, so the balance is obviously different.

Also, good analogy with Mimi and Musetta. As usual when I read your reviews I end up saying to myself, damn, why didn't I think of that?!

There are still quite a few £19.50 seats left (which look quite decent to me) for previews, i.e. to Sat 23 April. Possibly the dynamic pricing means that some have fallen in price since originally advertised but I've bagged one which looks like a bargain. Opted for a matinee in view of the show's length (only snag is the early start) but there were evening seats at this price had I wanted one.

Yes I agree the £19.50 seats (in the circle at least, as close to the centre block as you can) are extremely fantastic value for money. And anyway, if it is as empty up there as it was when I went, you can just move! Also, for those who may be interested, the programme is larger than normal, but not as big as a brochure, £6.

I'm also sitting there, but not until June, so please report back once you've been!

The £19.50 seats that have a great view - are they the circle front row with restricted view ones, or the back of the circle? Thanks

Really enjoying this sitting in the day seats in the front rows. Though the view is blocked at times by props being placed at the front. An A-Board is placed in the left hand aisle so that could affect some people's views

Gina Beck gives a fantastic performance

A few understudies on this afternoon. Including the stern mother and the comedy actress

Yes, the inconsistent ageing irked me just a tad, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of what is, as you say, a glorious production.

It is a little bit out of the way, but not much really. We found it quite easily without the aid of our phone satnav.

I had mixed reactions towards this one. First of all - seat was great. Centre of row M for 19.50 with no booking fee (!). Excellent rake, great view, enough leg room for tall people.

The first half hour was pretty dreadful. Slow as molasses and not in a good way. Weak singing, weak opening numbers for the different groups and everything takes way too long. Luckily it picks up after that. I don't know if it was related to my seat but there were major sound issues. Lots of times it sounded uneven, like coming through a tin can. Echoy in other places.

Female leads sounded great in their solos but it's not for me when I cannot actually understand the text due to the singing style. I also found the juxtaposition of the nods to condemning racism in the beginning and the way it's then completely disregarded for a love story awkward and inconsistent.

Got the impression though that a lot of people around me enjoyed it more than me and I wouldn't necessarily want to discourage anyone from going. Looks like this style of musical is simply not for me.

Those tix are, as in my post, on the website, until PN anyway - unless dynamic pricing has now removed them again. I agree about high prices as the reason I booked only recently was that the tix were so expensive - and I'd been hoping to see the show since its Sheffield opening so would've booked for London much sooner had tix been affordable earlier.

Saw this yesterday and on the whole enjoyed it, but I wasn't swept away - perhaps having very high expectations was part of the problem.

Somehow it didn't touch me emotionally as much as I expected it to - I think the book was the problem rather than any performances. Having seen the 1950's film years back and knowing it played down the race divide I thought this would be much more striking, but somehow I didn't feel it after the first scene.

I can see why the film changed the plot (Gaylord doesn't know that Magnolia is pregnant when leaving, and comes back only 5 years later when Julie tells him). I found the last scene when this bloke who had dumped his wife and daughter 20 years earlier only be brought back by dad and welcomed with open arms by everybody a bit hard to emphasise with. Clearly I am not a romantic. 

I loved most of the individual numbers: as well as Gina Beck and Rebecca Trehearn I enjoyed the two comedy actors who worked well together (didn't realise one was an understudy until the end). I thought Chris Peluso sang beautifully, but didn't have the charisma Gaylord needed to be such an instant draw to Magnolia. I also couldn't help comparing Old Man River to the Paul Robeson version which had so much power. Oddly enough I can't remember the same song in the 1950's film, though the programme says that some people think that version is better.

The set was great, costumes lovely, sound not so good:even though I was in row B I had trouble making out a lot of the words when there were multiple singers.

Still, I am glad I saw it, though I now think I paid too much in my eagerness to book. It's a hard call when you really want to see something (and have limited dates to do so) between buying that early ticket or risking waiting and the good tickets not being available. I have yet to get this balance right.