In a ‘Show Boat’ Reboot, Ol’ Man River Gets a Makeover

A water cooler. An electric guitar. A belt.

Even if you know in advance that the Target Margin production you’re attending will be an experimental reboot of “Show Boat,” the great-granddaddy of American musicals, you might find the three elements greeting you on a otherwise empty and disorienting scene.

Perhaps you think that as you sit at NYU Skirball in Manhattan, the water fountain alludes to the Mississippi River – or aesthetic thirst. The electric guitar, you might imagine, marks director and adapter David Herskovits’ intention to bring the 97-year-old musical into the present. (The title has been slightly revamped to “Show/Boat: A River.”) But the belt, draped over a microphone stand, remains mysterious. In capital letters, it says WHITE.

The audience at the premiere of “Show Boat” in late 1927 would have taken this for granted. The musical is entirely the work of Blancs: Jérôme Kern wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II the lyrics, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. It was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, this self-proclaimed glorifier of the (white) American girl. The character of Queenie, a river cook, was originally played by a white actor in blackface.

It’s also largely white people. Although black characters feature in powerful subplots and are more well-rounded than in most mainstream depictions of this era, they remain stereotypes. Worse still, their stories are generally servile and intermittent.

On the other hand, the main story closely follows 40 years of unusual life of a young white girl named Magnolia who grows up in the Cotton Blossom troop traveling the Mississippi. She marries a rake named Ravenal, raises their daughter, Kim, on her own, and eventually succeeds by singing “colorful” songs for white audiences.