Though it may be trimmed from its Ziegfeld debut, Show Boat, at Asolo Rep, abounds with emotional and comic appeal with heartfelt performances of iconic songs. Offering insights into smooth sailings and turbulences felt living on the Mississippi (and, selectively, its shores) from 1887 to 1927, the score and text focus on the Cotton Blossom family of owners, performers and crew and how they affect and are affected by the variety of folks and happenings ashore.
Asolo Rep's ship — its fore being the river equivalent of a Shakespearean stage with stairs on the sides of the upper level and a backroom below with stage in front — sails right down to us. Offstage supplies a deck with a family on shore leave and a walkway to the boat for a new arrival (Ben Davis' dashing Gaylord Ravenal) as well as a vicious enemy of star Julie Laverne, also a racist sheriff.
The baddies will force Julie (Daniella Dalli, with voice equally expressive of joy and despair) and husband Steve (David Sattler, properly weak) to leave. Their mixed-race marriage is illegal. Result: a change in the showboat's major personnel and, eventually, the fortunes of all.
Parallels run throughout the story. Captain Andy, in Joel Blum's obviously experienced interpretation, fills the role of patriarch for all onboard. He often clashes with persnickety wife Parthy (Dorothy Stanley). She's mostly business-minded, except for trying to keep daughter Magnolia away from their show business.
The white owners, who progressively win our affection, are like their leading Negro help. Cook Queenie (substantial E. Faye Butler), keeps after husband Joe (Michael James Leslie, the center of every scene he's in) for being lazy. But after many years, when he maintains “I Still Suits Me,” she agrees with him (as do we).
Magnolia (sweet-smiling Marissa McGowen) falls in love at first sight with gambler Ravenal. Their “Make Believe” game of love, soon played out onstage, leads to real marriage and a child. Offstage, Gaylord returns to gambling to make more money and succeeds until a series of failures makes him leave – like Steve has left Julie, but in Gaylord's case, to persuade Magnolia to seek greater stability.
Ironically, Julie's sham quitting of her job (but not before Dalli's beautiful vocal portrait of imaginary “My Bill”) gives Magnolia her chance to sing professionally. Her audition's been arranged by former Cotton Blossom dynamic dancers Ellie May (Elisa Van Duyne) and Frank (Denis Lambert). They've succeeded in marriage as well as show biz, despite — or maybe because of — Van Duyne as Ellie's persuasive protest against “Life Upon the Wicked Stage.”
Like the dancing duo, singers Magnolia and Gaylord, who once again tells her “You Are Love,” will eventually unite. He's talked about as proving not to be cut out just for work, like Joe. Like her mother, Kim (Brittany Proia, a proficient doubler) stars on the Showboat and welcomes her dad. There are parallels but also contrasts, especially socially and economically: White youth and Negro workers.
If there are any flaws in this shortened but still musically full Show Boat, they are a few unanswered questions (like Julie's fate, why Kim welcomes her dad's return and what promises to make it successful this time) and the rather rushed falling action. Shortcomings are more than balanced, though, by the wonderfully sung score and Noah Racey's pulsating dances.
Dances show a range of styles from the opening “Cotton Blossom” to a group rendition of “Why Do I Love You” to vaudeville number “Goodbye My Lady Love” or the waltz of “After the Ball.” Glory be to everyone involved in the music. And, yes, “Ol' Man River” is a show-stopper by Joe (best I've heard since Paul Robeson), with a so-good rendering of racial tension in the chorus sung by the younger Stevedores.
Rob Ruggiero deserves praise a-plenty for his directorial concepts and how successfully they're realized. We take his direction to become a vital part of a show that runs on a wheel with so many spokes. Costumes, lighting, and sound reflect natural and symbolic changes in time as it passes and the tenor of eras. A ride on Asolo Rep's Show Boat is quite a trip!
