Show Boat

Tickets and Information

There's a telling scene in the Goodspeed Opera House's decidedly uneven revival of the beloved Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein musical Show Boat, in which the newly abandoned Magnolia (Sarah Uriarte Berry), seeking a means of support after husband Gaylord's defection, attempts to resuscitate her singing career with a stiff, deadly church-choir delivery of the turn-of-the-century standard "After the Ball."

After some spirited urging by her father, Cap'n Andy (Lenny Wolpe), Magnolia's rendition still remains a distinct unwow -- only now Berry has a big grin pasted on her face. It is this sense of trying too hard which haunts the show as a whole -- despite the brief respites that occur when so[...]