This show was the first Broadway score ever to have a coherent plot and integrated songs. Based on Edna Ferber's novel of the same name, Showboat is a story that takes place over a period of 50 years looking into the lives of the Hawks family, their showboat troop of actors, and the Cotton Blossom floating theater. The play deals with such themes as mixed marriages, gambling, infidelity, illegitimacy.
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Book by Oscar Hammerstein II |
