Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s groundbreaking musical version of Edna Ferber’s novel examines the lives of Cap’n Andy and his troupe of traveling show boat performers, including his naïve daughter Magnolia, her gambling husband Gaylord Ravenal, the tragic mixed-race actress Julie, and black stevedore Joe, who marvels at the constancy of the “Ol’ Man River” they travel on. The show spans the years from 1880 to 1927. This lyrical masterpiece concerns the lives, loves and heartbreaks of three generations of show folk on the Mississippi, in Chicago, and on Broadway.
