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Review Of Lyric Opera Production Of Show Boat, Mark E. Lococo

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The premiere effort of the Renée Fleming Initiative brought Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s masterpiece Show Boat to the Lyric Opera stage, demonstrating an annual commitment to producing works of the American musical theatre. As Lyric’s general director Anthony Freud asserted in an open letter to patrons, “great works of musical theatre profit enormously from the resources of a major opera company.” While Francesca Zambello’s lavish production may have affirmed that statement within the context of the opera house, little attention was paid to the elements that make American musical theatre generically different from opera, most notably book scenes with …