I have to repost and share this again, with an editorial on it, long overdue. Ive always loved Show Boat--because it is an epic that is rooted in themes that are so much larger than you, me, our lives, and our relationships. To me, its like Homers Odyssey, Angels In America, or Battlestar Galactica (Yes, I did just lump together Show Boat, the Odyssey, and Battlestar Galactica--and I make no apology for that!) It should, at its best, leave the audience with an unquenchable feeling of futility, devastation, and exhilaration all at once. But no production nor film has done that for me--until this one. Heres what happened when I saw this production at SF Opera: 1. I guess I always knew, but couldnt quite put my finger on it: but to do the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein music any justice, it HAS to have the best, most proficient, most highly trained singers available. Not your standard Broadway stars, but the best opera singers, and this had that. Additionally, for the most part, where needed, they also were very good actors. 2. What I said above was most evident in the duet (repeated several times) of You Are Love. Ive known that song for years, but this was no song--it soared out beyond the confines of the theatre. 3. Ive heard many Joes sing Old Man River, including recordings of the great Paul Robeson. But when Morris Robinson started singing, within 15 seconds I said to myself, Everyone who has ever sung this song must now take a back seat to this man. I was stunned. And I thought, No matter what else happens in here tonight, this made the whole evening worth it. UNTIL . . . 4. Patricia Racette, as Julie, now sadly disintegrated into a wasted life, sang Bill (Hes just my Bill). But she didnt sing it like a plaintive, loving tribute to her lost love--she sang it as an aria--with a heightened pathos that was just shattering! When she ended, I was truly trembling and shaking in my seat, and couldnt stop. It was THE moment of theater that I can and will never forget. It was one of the most beautiful and devastating things Ive ever experienced. You can get a tiny sense of it all in this video, click on the videos tab below the central pane, then click on the box that says Show Boat against a blue background. Its only a taste though: sfopera/Season-Tickets/2013-14-Season/Show-Boat.aspx?gclid=CJbKmO6O3b8CFQKLaQodhqEAqA#media-videos I know that both Nicole Susanne Bohn and Donna Duensing saw this, and they may concur, although not necessarily with quite my degree of hyperbole :)
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 04:53:34 +0000
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