Highlights from Showboat this Sunday Night on The Lyric Stage

Showboat moved quickly from a best selling novel by Edna Ferber in 1926 to one of the great Broadway musicals in 1927, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein the Second (whose work would extend thirty more years all the way to The Sound of Music). Showboat has been hailed as revolutionary by breaking the mould of heavy operettas and superficial musical comedies that dominated Broadway by presenting a tragic love story and realistic social themes. It has held stage for nearly a century, and the highlights we have are from a superb recording from 1988 led by John McGlinn. Jerry Hadley, Theresa Stratas and Frederica von Stade head the cast.