When Village Theatre actor Ekello Harrid Jr. sang the stirring “Ol’ Man River,” audience members were brought to tears.
They didn’t have much time to recover when the cast belted out “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” This beautiful ballad was followed up with the soulful “Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun,’’’ then came the delightful “I Have the Room Above Her,” followed by the hilarious “Life Upon the Wicked Stage.”
The songs of “Show Boat” are remarkable in that so many of them are so good, and they just keep flowing, like water off a paddle wheel.
Before Act I ends, the enormity of this score, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, makes clear how grand this show really is in that it changed musical theater from the follies into serious stage productions where the story moved through the music and vice versa.
The grandness of Village Theatre’s production does complete justice to the score, from the stunning costumes to the gorgeous voices to the almost surreal size of the boat, the Cotton Blossom — a 30-foot-wide by 20-foot-tall two- level structure with smokestacks and a spiral staircase.
When this marvel first slowly enters the stage and finally docks, it gives goose bumps.
But its presence doesn’t detract from the other stars of this show. Some of the standouts are Richard Todd Adams as Gaylord Ravenal; Megan Chenovick as Magnolia Hawks; Larry Albert, who played Cap’n Andy; Marlette Buchanan who was Queenie; Harrid; Kathryn Van Meter, who played Ellie May Chipley; and Cayman Ilika, making quite a four-star Village Theatre debut as Julie LaVerne.
Village is putting on this show as the first regional production in more than a decade. The story about the mixed marriage of a showboat couple who are banned from performing still plays out today. Their act is taken over by Ravenal, a gambler, and Magnolia Hawks, the captain’s daughter, though their love eventually drowns in a tragic descent into poverty.
Staging this long-awaited and grand production of “Show Boat” was one of the smartest things Village Theatre could do.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com.
“Show Boat”
8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 7 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 2. at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. Tickets are $16 to $51. Call 425-257-8600, 888-257-3722 or go to www.villagetheatre.org.
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