Show Boat

Introduction: Look at John Kenrick’s Musicals 101 site, as well as a particularly robust Wikipedia entry

Video promo materials from 1993 Broadway Revival (hang in there, the image doesn’t appear til about 35 seconds in!)

Production History:
Premiere 1927 at Ziegfeld Theater, produced by Ziegfeld (572 performances), London premiere in 1928
Major revival 1946-47 at Ziegfeld, produced by Kern and Hammerstein, ran one year
Major revival directed by Hal Prince 1994 produced by Livent (Canadian theater production company headed by Garth Drabinsky) ran over 900 performances to become the longest running version of Show Boat ever produced.
Film versions released in 1936 (thoughtfully anthologized on YouTube) and 1951
Recently revived in the US by Houston Grand Opera and Washington National Opera in a grand co-production:

Also recently produced by Goodspeed Opera House on a more intimate scale, appropriate to their venue:

Two essays: Race in Show Boat and Dysfunctional Families and Independent Women