BBC Radio 4, 20-27 February 2011
Mention the title Show Boat and I immediately think of
the great Jerome Kern/ Oscar Hammerstein musical of 1927, memorably filmed in both 1936 and 1951. As a child I used to listen
to a compilation LP Great Moments of the Movies, that contained recordings of great MGM musical performances,
including Ava Gardner's rendition of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (with her voice dubbed by Annette Warren). The recording
is now available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOyycNqiWA).
Paul Robeson's version of "Ol' Man River" - from James Whale's 1936 film - has become
immortal.
Tracey Neale's classic serial production of Edna Ferber's original novel retained
most of the plot-lines familiar from the films: the inexorable progress of the Cotton Blossom Floating Palace Theatre up the
Mississippi river; the racial discrimination that was an accepted part of everyday life when the book first appeared; and
the disastrous marriage of Magnolia Hawks (Samantha Spiro) to the gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Ryan McCluskey).
In thematic terms, however, Neale's approach could not have been more different.
She related the progress of the boat up and down the Mississippi to the progress of life itself, through
ingenious use of the spiritual "Deep River" that served as an introduction to each episode. The actors were born, grew up
and died together, giving performances both good and bad, but understanding as they did so that they were part of a unique
community. When Julie (Samantha Dakin) and her husband Steve (Henry Devas) were told by the authorities to leave the boat,
on account of Julie having African-American blood in her (and therefore unable to perform in white-only towns), the rest of
the company rallied round to support her. Both Magnolia and her daughter Kim (Lysette Anthony) left the show boat to pursue
their stage careers elsewhere, but they were inexorably drawn back, as if the boat were the source of life itself. Time passed;
attitudes changed; but the boat continued its inexorable progress up and down the Mississippi, with the management passing
down from generation to generation. Captain Andy Hawks, Magnolia's father (Morgan Deare) bought the boat; when he passed away,
his widow Parthenia (Laurel Lefkow) assumed responsibility; and when she died, Magnolia took over. To adapt the Kern/ Hammerstein
lyric, the boat, like the river, kept "rollin' along."
In structural terms, Neale's Show Boat was a picaresque tale, with the characters
experiencing both good and bad fortune and acquiring inner strength as a result. This was particularly true of Magnolia, who
discovered early on that her marriage had been a mistake, but kept it going for Kim's sake. The various incidents taking place
in Ferber's novel were summarized for us at the beginning of each episode by Andy, in a voice reminiscent of an emcee at a
vaudeville show. This technique re-emphasized the link between the show boat and life itself: every incident in the novel resembled
a turn on a vaudeville bill.
Although some of the cast's American accents occasionally slipped, they thoroughly
enjoyed themselves. McCluskey's Ravenal was full of superficial charm; his true nature only emerged when he whipped the horses
pulling his dog-cart into a frenzy. Their pathetic whinnying could be heard in the background as Magnolia implored him
to stop. However he refused to do so; once his blood was up, he became a different person altogether. Anthony's Kim assumed
the narrator's role in the adaptation, recounting her memories for the benefit of a journalist from The New
Yorker. At first she seemed rather hesitant, as if reluctant to talk about herself; but she gradually relaxed as she
recalled how important the show boat was in her early life.
Beautifully embellished with period music from Neil Brand, with the banjo played
by Mike Hammond. this Show Boat achieved the impossible; to redefine my understanding of Ferber's novel, which
hitherto had been shaped solely by the musical.
