Review: Show Boat at The Village Theatre.
The Village Theatre in Issaquah produced the first regional production in over a decade of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s romantic masterwork, Show Boat, featuring many of Seattle’s top actors. Show Boat is a grand classic musical, a story that spans 47 years in the lives of Cap’n Andy Hawks, his family and his troupe of entertainers. The play opens in 1898 aboard the Cotton Blossom, a showboat docked in Natchez, Mississippi.
Once the curtain opens, you are in for a treat. The production is directed by Jerry Dixon, choreography by Stanley Perryman and scenic design by Bob Dahlstrom. This talented team brings to the stage a showboat weighing 6,000 pounds and three stories high, the Cotton Blossom, along with staging for a Chicago night club and other locations that are a wonderful backdrop for a cast of 28 excellent singers and dancers. A 17 piece orchestra is in place for the music and score that is part of American musical history with songs like Ol’ Man River and Can’t Help Loving’ Dat Man.
This play is story telling at it’s best. It’s a chronicle about Capt Andy (Larry Albert), his wife Parthy (Leslie Law) and their daughter Magnolia (Megan Chenovick), the actors that work on the showboat, and the people they meet and love along the way. It deals with race and discrimination, all issues of the times. There were so many wonderful performances from a stand out cast. It’s hard to select just a few to highlight.
The well known and loved song, Ol’ Man River is sung by actor Ekello Harrid Jr., who has the role of Joe, one of the hired help on the showboat. Mr. Harrid rendition of the song is intense and vivid with not a mis-note, he makes the song relative to the action taking place on the stage. His was the first Bravo I heard, but there were others.
Larry Albert as Capt Andy brings all of the essence of a man trying always to live by his standards and keep his family together. He is in charge but it takes you while to realize this since his wife Parthy is a strong woman and a good match for him. He held the audience in the palm of his hand during the aborted performance of the play. When a couple of backwoods men on the showboat took issue with what was happening on the stage and decided to shoot one of the actors, Capt Andy wants to still give his audience on the showboat their money’s worth and acts out the rest of the play, playing all the parts himself. Believe me, it was funny and delightful to watch. Worth the price of the ticket itself.
The singing is wonderful and everyone does justice to this vibrant piece of musical theatre legacy. This production has it all, it draws you in and makes you care about the people on the stage. After all, you see them grow and change over almost 50 years on the stage. The music and dancing will have you humming and tapping your foot.
The creative team that worked on the design, the lighting, and the costumes deserve praise. Not an easy task to stay true to the times with costumes (156 of them), make-up, scenery and all the things that we take for granted if done right. The task for the creative team for this production was challenging but the result is a show that is believable with not a false note in any area. The sound effects and the orchestra all worked together in a superb manner to present a first-rate show.
While this is my first time at the Village Theatre it certainly won’t be my last. Show Boat only plays at the Village Theatre in Issaquah through July 3rd but it plays at Village Theatre in Everett from July 10 – August 2, 2009.
For more info and tickets, visit www.villagetheatre.org.
– Ethel W.
