Casting is complete for Carnegie Hall's gala benefit production of Show Boat on June 10, directed by Francesca Zambello. Joining previously announced stars Becky Ann Baker Parthy Ann Hawks, Carolee Carmello Julie LaVerne, Nathan Gunn Gaylord Ravenal, Gavin Lee Frank Schultz, Jonathan Hadary Cap'n Andy, Alvy Powell Joe and Celena Shafer Magnolia Hawks will be Curtains star Megan Sikora as Ellie May Chipley replacing previously announced Jessica Bogart, opera star Alteouise deVaughn as Queenie and nine-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar as Kim.
With Paul Gemignani conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Carnegie Hall staging of Show Boat will include period costumes, dances and on-stage projections of pen-and-ink illustrations and sketches depicting the passage of time from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, during which the musical takes place.
Composed by Jerome Kern with a libretto and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Show Boat features such standards as "Make Believe," "You Are Love," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," and "Ol' Man River." The musical, first performed on Broadway in 1927, concerns the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of three generations of show folk as their floating theater, the Cotton Blossom, plies the mighty Mississippi. This concert marks the first time Show Boat has been heard in New York since the 1994 Broadway revival directed by Harold Prince, which ran for more than two years.
The gala June 10 performance, produced in association with the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, will benefit Carnegie Hall's artistic programming and the music education initiatives of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.
