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Those who consider Show Boat racially insensitive often note that the dialogue and lyrics of the black characters (especially the stevedore Joe and his wife Queenie) and choruses use various forms of African American Vernacular English. An example of this is shown in the following text:

Hey!

Where yo' think you're goin'?

Don't yo' know dis show is startin' soon?

Hey!

Jes' a few seats left yere!

It's light inside an' outside dere's no moon

What fo' you gals dressed up dicty?

Where's yo' all gwine?

Tell dose stingy men o' yourn

To step up here in line!

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The show has generated controversy for the subject matter of interracial marriage, the historical portrayal of blacks working as laborers and servants in the 19th-century South, and the use of the word niggers in the lyrics (this is the first word in the opening chorus of the show). Originally the show opened with the black chorus onstage singing:

Niggers all work on the Mississippi,

Niggers all work while the white folks play.

Loadin' up boats wid de bales of cotton,

Gittin' no rest till de Judgement Day.

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The original London West End production opened May 3, 1928, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and featured among the cast, Cedric Hardwicke as Capt. Andy, Edith Day as Magnolia, Paul Robeson as Joe, and Alberta Hunter as Queenie. Mabel Mercer, later famed as a cabaret singer, was in the chorus. Other West End presentations include a 1971 production at the Adelphi Theatre, which ran for 909 performance,

The Hal Prince production ran at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1998,and was nominated for the Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production (1999). Other notable revivals in England have included the joint Opera North/Royal Shakespeare Company production of 1989, which ran at the London Palladium in 1990, and the 2006 production directed by Francesca Zambello, presented by Raymond Gubbay at London's Royal Albert Hall. It was the first fully staged musical production in the history of that venue.

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Show Boat premiered in New York on December 27, 1927. Ziegfeld previewed the production in a pre-Broadway tour from November 15 to December 19, 1927. The locations included the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Nixon Theatre in Pittsburgh, the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland, and the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia.The show opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927. The critics were immediately enthusiastic, and the show was a great popular success, running a year and a half, for a total of 572 performances.

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The production was staged by Oscar Hammerstein II.[16] Choreography for the show was by Sammy Lee. The original cast included Norma Terris as Magnolia Hawks and her daughter Kim (as an adult), Howard Marsh as Gaylord Ravenal, Helen Morgan as Julie LaVerne, Jules Bledsoe as Joe, Charles Winninger as Cap'n Andy Hawks, Edna May Oliver as Parthy Ann Hawks, Sammy White as Frank Schultz, Eva Puck as Ellie May Chipley, and Tess Gardella as Queenie. The orchestrator was Robert Russell Bennett, and the conductor was Victor Baravalle. The scenic design for the original production was by Joseph Urban, who had worked with Ziegfeld for many years in his Follies and had designed the elaborate new Ziegfeld Theatre itself. Costumes were designed by John Harkrider.

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The Sheriff, the Stevedores, the Townspeople, the Dandies, the Dockworkers, the Gals, the Flappers, the Nuns, the Chorus, the Sightseers, the Barkers, the Jubilee Singers and Dahomey Dancers are all somewhat of ensemble parts. The Sheriff incriminates Julie and Steve by order of Pete. The Stevedores are the workers and performers of the Cotton Blossom. The Townspeople sing the opening song and others, and watch the performances of the show boat. The Dandies sing "At the Fair" with the Sightseers and Barkers. The Dockworkers sing with Joe in all the versions of "Ol' Man River". The Gals back up Frank and Ellie in most of their songs, including "I Might Fall Back on You". The Flappers back up Kim during "Why Do I Love You? (reprise)". The Nuns sing "Nuns' Processional". The Chorus sings at Magnolia and Ravenal's wedding. The Jubilee Singers and Dahomey Dancers sing "In Dahomey".

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Ferber was at first shocked that anyone would want to adapt Show Boat as a musical. After being assured by Kern that he did not want to adapt it as the typical frivolous "girlie" show of the 1920s, she granted him and his collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II the rights to set her novel to music. After composing most of the first-act songs, Kern and Hammerstein auditioned their material for producer Florenz Ziegfeld, thinking that he was the person to create the elaborate production they felt necessary for Ferber's sprawling work.[5] Ziegfeld was impressed with the show and agreed to produce it, writing the next day, "This is the best musical comedy I have ever been fortunate to get a hold of; I am thrilled to produce it, this show is the opportunity of my life..."[5]Show Boat, with its serious and dramatic nature, was considered an unusual choice for Ziegfeld, previously known mainly for revues such as the Ziegfeld Follies.

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In doing research for her proposed novel Show Boat, writer Edna Ferber spent several weeks on the James Adams Floating Palace Theatre in Bath, North Carolina, gathering material about a disappearing American entertainment venue, the river showboat. In a few weeks, she gained what she called a "treasure trove of show-boat material, human, touching, true". Jerome Kern was impressed by the novel and, hoping to adapt it as a musical, asked the critic Alexander Woollcott to introduce him to Ferber in October 1926. Woollcott introduced them that evening during the intermission of Kern's latest musical, Criss Cross.

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The premiere of Show Boat on Broadway was a watershed moment in the history of American musical theatre. Compared to the trivial and unrealistic operettas, light musical comedies and "Follies"-type musical revues that defined Broadway in the 1890s and early 20th century, Show Boat "was a radical departure in musical storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness".

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Show Boat is a 1927 musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Based on Edna Ferber's best-selling novel of the same name, the musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years, from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".