Oscar Hammerstein II - Show Boat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1951 Film)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Oscar Hammerstein IIPerformer: Jerome Kern
Performer: Ava Gardner
Performer: Howard Keel
Performer: Joe E. Brown
Performer: Marge Champion
Performer: Gower Champion
Performer: Robert Sterling
Performer: Agnes Moorehead
Performer: Leif Erickson
Performer: William Warfield
Performer: Mary Bezemes
Performer: Frank Wilcox
Performer: Lyn Wilde
Performer: Shep Houghton
Performer: George Lynn
Performer: Owen McGiveney
Performer: Michael Dugan
Performer: Frances E. Williams
Performer: Bette Arlen
Performer: Helen Kimbell
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 1995-05-23
Music Label: Rhino / Wea
Soundtracks:
- Main Title - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra And Chorus
- Cap'n Andy's Calliope - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Natchez - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Cap'n Andy's Presentation - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra And Chorus
- Cap'n Andy's Ballyhoo - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Encore On Dock - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Where's The Mate For Me? (Gambler's Song) - Howard Keel
- Young Romance - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Make Believe - Kathryn Grayson And Howard Keel
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man - Annette Warren
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man - Reprise #1 - Kathryn Grayson/Ava Gardner/Annette Warren
- I Might Fall Back On You - Marge And Gower Champion
- Julie Leaves The Boat - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra And Chorus
- Ol' Man River - William Warfield
- Ol' Man River - Reprise - William Warfield
- You Are Love - Kathryn Grayson And Howard Keel
- Why Do I Love You? - Kathryn Grayson And Howard Keel
- Ravenal Is Gone - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Bill - Annette Warren
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man - Kathryn Grayson
- Life On The Wicked Stage - Marge And Gower Champion
- After The Ball - Kathryn Grayson
- Packet Boat - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Natchez Dock - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Make Believe - Reprise - Howard Keel
- Reunion - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
- Ol' Man River - Finale Ultimo - William Warfield And Chorus
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Outtake) - Ava Gardner
- Bill (Outtake) - Ava Gardner
Free Music Notes for Show Boat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1951 Film)
Free Music Review: THE MOST SYMPHONIC OF ALL "SHOW BOAT" RECORDINGS!
Hit: 5 Stars
This soundtrack of the 1951 MGM film version is my favorite recording of SHOW BOAT, even though, in typical Hollywood fashion, several songs from the stage version are truncated or completely missing. Kern's complex melodies cry for a symphonic sound far beyond the capabilities of a Broadway pit orchestra and Conrad Salinger's orchestrations played by the incomparable MGM Studio Orchestra with its superb string section are astonishingly beautiful, especially evident in the generous instrumental underscore cues included on this Rhino expanded CD. Howard Keel has the perfect voice for Ravenal and makes the best case for this role being sung by a baritone rather than a tenor. Although some may have issues with Kathryn's Grayson's excessive vibrato she is vocally at least as good as any previous Magnolia at the time, and better than most, surpassed perhaps only by Jan Clayton in the 1946 revival, but especially superior to Irene Dunne's boring renditions in the 1936 film version. Even more importantly, Grayson's voice blends nicely with Keel's and their vocals of "Make Believe" & "You are Love" are the finest performances ever of these songs. Especially moving is Salinger's treatment of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as a sultry torch song when initially sung by Julie, which makes for an interesting contrast when the song is later performed by Julie, Magnolia and ensemble in the syncopated style usually heard in the stage version. The first rendition is Julie's white persona and in the later one she can't help but celebrate, even for a few minutes, the mixture of black within her that she is usually careful to hide. This is conveyed visually in Ava Gardner's stunning and poignant portrayal of Julie on the screen. Sadly, MGM chose to use Annette Warren's vocals for Julie instead of Ava Gardner's in the finished film. Gardner's vocals, which have long been available on all versions of the soundtrack album, are clearly more appropriate to the character and are the best performances of Julie's songs ever, in my opinion. Gardner's vocal of "Bill", is especially heartbreaking. Both Gardner and Warren's vocals are included on this CD. No one has ever performed the two upbeat specialty numbers, "Life upon the Wicked Stage" and "I Might Fall Back on You" better than Marge & Gower Champion in this film. Lastly, William Warfield's definitive, magnificent performance of the classic "Ol' Man River", orchestrated to perfection by Salinger, set the standard for every subsequent singer in this role and although imitated, Warfield's vocal has never been surpassed.
If I want to hear SHOW BOAT in a more complete version, the 1971 London Cast recording Show Boat (1971 London Revival Cast) with Cleo Laine as Julie, which uses fuller orchestrations comparable but not as good as the MGM soundtrack, is wonderful. John McGlinn's authentic, but little else, 1988 studio recording, Kern & Hammerstein II: Show Boat - Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard, John McGlinn, London Sinfonietta & Ambrosian Chorus which recreates the original 1927 stage version note for note and includes all of the songs originally composed for SHOW BOAT and some additional ones written for the 1936 film and 1946 stage revival, is fine to have as the ultimate documentation of SHOW BOAT from a historical perspective. But McGlinn's recording also exposes painfully the trite and inappropriate 1920's jazz age orchestrations, which undermine all of the songs, especially the love songs, and are so embarrassingly dated that Robert Russell Bennett redid them completely for the 1936 film version and 1946 revival of SHOW BOAT. Authenticity, in this instance, is not a good thing. Normally Frederica Von Stade, Jerry Hadley & Teresa Stratas are fine singers but in this recording their staid, operatic singing lacks the energy and panache that Kern & Hammerstein's score requires.
Although the sound quality is not equal to a modern recording, the 1951 MGM soundtrack, especially in this beautifully remastered Rhino expanded edition, serves Kern & Hammerstein's landmark score better than any other version of SHOW BOAT I have heard.
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