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Rockin' the Boat

Broadway musical makes quick adjustment to UA audience

The cast and crew of Broadway's Tony Award-winning "Show Boat" made a smooth transition to their week-long home at UA Centennial Hall with last night's opening show.

"It felt really good," said cast member Tracy Bonner, who plays Ellie Mae Chipley. "It's a new house, and we had to adjust."

Bonner said the transition into Centennial Hall was tough but rewarding. She added that the Tucson stage crew helped the cast ease into the shift.

"The crew here worked with us and our crew," she said. "It went really, really well."

Audience members said intricate set design and a lot of hard work were the highlights of the production.

Elisana Jimenez, a University of Arizona speech and hearing sciences senior, said the sets and costumes accented the play's story line and were "uplifting and magnificent."

"It was a great show," Jimenez said. "It really looked like they all worked hard."

The set design relied on translucent screens and elaborate stage changes, which were often incorporated into on-stage dance routines.

In the opening scene, the mellow colors of a Mississippi River backdrop melt into a transparency after a series of lighting changes, revealing the Cotton Blossom show boat being tugged on stage.

The opening scene was a harbinger for several hazy backdrops that allowed for multiple acts showed on stage without a set change.

"The sets really set it off," said George Stroud, a 1960 UA alum. "I loved the intricate ways the scenes changed."

Other sets included a star-lit wharf, with silhouettes of a sleepy dock as the only major point of discernment, and a scene that utilized several translucent screens to illustrate transitions between a tenement apartment in Chicago and the Mississippi River show boat.

The play, set at the turn of the 20th century, centered around the life of actress and singer Magnolia Hawkes (played by Jennifer Evans) and her family. In keeping with the time period, all the servants were black, and their hardships served as an underlying theme in the musical.

Angel Lopez, a Desert Christian High School junior, saw "Show Boat" for the first time, and said she thought the play would have been better had it focused on the racial tensions.

"The story line itself was bad," she said. "I heard that it was about racism, and it didn't talk about it at all. All they did was sing."

Stroud, who was a theater major while at the UA, said "Show Boat" was one of the better plays he has seen at Centennial Hall.

"('Show Boat') was very, very well done," he said. "It was so good. It was just a lovely evening."

Jimenez said she had been to other Centennial Hall productions that didn't match the quality of "Show Boat."

"There are some Broadway shows that just shine above the rest," she said.

The musical, which received a standing ovation, opened to an audience of about 1,750 people.

"Show Boat" runs through Sunday at Centennial Hall. Show times are 7:30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, 8 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $28, $34 and $40. For more information, call the Centennial Hall Box Office at 621-3341 or e-mail UApresents at presents@u.arizona.edu.