A Spiritual Exploration of the Literary and Performing Arts: Volume II: Show Boat

The American musical theatre has done a wonderful job over the last century of entertaining us through the use of words, music and dance. Sometimes one element has predominated but all three have contributed to our overall enjoyment. However, on occasion, a musical has arisen to a level that transcends the ordinary evening at the theatre and becomes special. It imprints its message indelibly on our minds in what a friend of mine calls “the sublime potential of the medium, eliciting an audible gasp or an uncontrollable emotional outpouring from the audience, en masse.”One such example is the musical, Show Boat, a show that contains romance, historical melodrama and a lovely score that never ceases to entertain. However, it also has one element that rises to a higher level: a song that is unique in many ways and has for almost a century elicited “audible gasps” and an “uncontrollable emotional outpouring.”That song is “Ol’ Man River,” which is both integral to the musical and, at the same time, soars above the rest of the show. Broadway revivals and movie versions have provided many differing versions of the story, along with different casts, music directors and styles. Yet one element remains a constant throughout every one of these productions: the song, with its music and the lyrics. This book is dedicated to a better understanding of this immortal song.