'Show Boat' is a musical with great depth

There's no doubt about it: The 6,000-pound boat -- that's three tons -- is certainly a presence on stage.

In Village Theatre's production of "Show Boat," that presence is huge and necessary with most of the first act taking place aboard the boat.

But actor Richard Todd Adams doesn't feel at all upstaged by this vessel. He's actually grateful for its size.

"It's as solid as a rock," Adams said.

Adams and his Juilliard-trained voice should also be quite a presence on stage as he makes his Village Theatre debut as Gaylord Ravenal in "Show Boat" after recently stunning audiences with his powerful performance in Paramount Theatre's "The Phantom of the Opera."

Playing the Phantom and now Ravenal, Adams joked that he's starting to get typecast as the antagonist.

"The common thread in these guys is that they are very misunderstood. They're the kind of guy who thinks what he's doing is completely right," Adams said.

The epic story in "Show Boat" -- Village Theatre puts on this first regional production in more than a decade -- is one drenched in racial tension and bathed in tragic love. It delves into the mixed marriage of a showboat couple who are banned from performing. Their act is taken over by Ravenal, a gambler, and Magnolia Hawks, the captain's daughter, who fall in love.

The lovers leave the river for Chicago but living off Ravenal's earnings from gambling proves to be problematic at best and a life of poverty at its worst. The two go broke. Ravenal feels guilty and leaves Magnolia, not knowing she is pregnant.

Adams described the Village Theatre production as one similar to the 1944 Broadway revival. In this one, the couple's daughter is in her 20s when Ravenal and Hawks reunite, though the ending leaves the future up in the air for these two lovebirds.

"You know they are going to have some sort of discussion, and though the show's over, you don't know what is going to happen in their relationship -- they may stay around and he might leave again, you really don't know," Adams said.

Hawks is played by Megan Chenovick, who has an extensive history in opera performance. Adams said her beautiful voice adds to the texture of this full score of hits.

Two of Adams' favorites from the score include "The Room Above Her," a lighthearted song showing the likable side of the gambler, and "Mis'ry's Comin' Round," a haunting yet contemporary melody with "a little more raw quality to it."

Adams, 35, agreed that "Show Boat" was a groundbreaking musical in that musical theater turned the corner from delivering mostly fluff in between songs to delivering some serious topics such as miscegenation.

"This set the standard," Adams said. "And younger audiences are really surprised by it, and when they see it, they want to go back and look at other musicals of that era, but most of them don't even come close to the epicness of this show."



Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com.