Fri 5/6-Sun 5/22
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1927 musical Showboat was groundbreaking in a theater world then filled with fluffy musical revues and lighthearted operettas. It follows the cast and crew of a Mississippi River showboat from the late 1880s through the (then) present day, and addressed themes of racial prejudice at a time when the Ku Klux Klan was strongly ascendant.
It’s a challenging show to produce so it’s not seen that often (the late Cleveland Opera did it in the early ’90s), although many know such enduring tunes as the mournful “Ol’ Man River” and the lively “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” Near West Theatre is taking on the task with a cross-generational cast that, as usual for them, includes people of diverse ages, races, ethnicities and degrees of theater experience. It opens Fri 5/6 and runs through Sun 5/22 Thursday through Saturday @ 7:30pm and Sunday @ 3pm. Tickets are $8-$20
Cleveland, OH 44102