Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (with the notable exception of "Bill," the lyrics of which were written by P. G. Wodehouse). It is based on a 1926 book of the same name by Edna Ferber, and is generally considered to be the first American "musical", as a dramatic form with popular music, separate both from operetta and from the "Follies"-type musical comedies that preceded it. The show opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York on December 27, 1927, where it ran for a year and a half. It is frequently revived and was adapted as a movie on at least four occasions, in 1929, 1936, 1946 (as a mini-show inside the movie Till the Clouds Roll By), and 1951. (See Show Boat (movie).)

Songs

A definitive list of songs, per se, is somewhat pointless since the original production ran nearly four hours and thus is almost never performed in its original form. Confounding the situation further are new songs written for revivals. Typically, productions pick and choose from the original material to fashion a distinct version of Show Boat. Nevertheless, the key songs from the show include the following:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• "Cotton Blossom" — The notes in the phrase "Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom" are the same notes as those in the phrase "Old Man River, Old Man River," but sung in reverse order. According to Hammerstein and Kern, this was intentional symbolism.
• "Where's The Mate For Me?"
• "Make Believe"
• "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" — Queenie's surprise at the apparently white Julie's knowledge of a "black folks'" song foreshadows the discovery of Julie's mixed origins.
• "Till Good Luck Comes My Way"
• "I Might Fall Back On You"
• "Why Do I Love You?"
• "Ol' Man River"
• "You Are Love" (considered by Jerome Kern to be his worst-ever song.)
• "I Still Suits Me"
• "Queenie's Ballyhoo"
• "Life Upon the Wicked Stage"
• "Bill"
• "After The Ball" a song by Charles K. Harris from 1892