Connoisseurs of musical theater are sure to love this Show Boat, in which a uniformly-stellar cast impeccably delivers one of the most stirring and scintillating scores ever written for the musical theater stage. Connoisseurs of Show Boat in particular will find this Lyric Opera version better than many previous revivals, although no more definitive. In the pattern of all productions since the 1927 original, Lyric, too, alters the score and story.

Edna Ferber's 1926 novel concerns three generations of a riverboat family, specifically three generations of women. Ferber had killed off her two principal men halfway through the book, Cap'n Andy Hawks who owns the show boat and Gaylord Ravenal, the handsome gambler who marries Andy's daughter, Magnolia. In creating the 1927 musical, adapter/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein kept both men alive and eliminated Ravenal's consorting with prostitutes. Having Ravenal abandon his wife and child (as in Ferber's novel) was bleak enough for a musical comedy, along with a miscegenation subplot. Jerome Kern concurred, and poured his lyrical gifts into a dazzling score ranging from the iconic anthem "Ol' Man River," to the comic "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," to the jazz-influenced "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," to the soaring "You Are Love." Wisely, Lyric uses mostly (more than 80 percent) of the original 1927 orchestrations, which still are superb.

Lyric Opera's big change eliminates Kim, the third-generation daughter of Magnolia and Ravenal. In the novel and musical, she follows her mother into show biz and becomes an even bigger star. The adult Kim makes a wordless cameo appearance as the Lyric production ends, but her stardom is assigned to her mother and her big Charleston number is eliminated. Lyric director Francesca Zambello and conductor John DeMain hang this Show Boat on the central love story rather than on a family's history. This weakens one of Ferber's central themes, but isn't better/worse than adjustments made in other revivals.

Zambello smartly has cast opera singers as Ravenal (Nathan Gunn), mulatto Julie (Alyson Cambridge), Black stevedore Joe (Morris Robinson) and his wife, Queenie (Angela Renee Simpson) and musical theater performers as Magnolia (Ashley Brown), song-and dance team Frank (Bernie Yvon) and Ellie (Ericka Mac) and Cap'n Andy (Ross Lehman). The cast easily traverses the show's once-groundbreaking blend of operetta and musical comedy, with the chops to nail the songs, dialogue scenes and comedy (especially Lehman). Almost unique in opera, female leads Cambridge and Brown both are svelte, beautiful and can dance!

DeMain takes some uptempo numbers too slowly, and I wasn't overwhelmed with Peter J. Davison's set design (although the Act II stylized backdrops are excellent), while Paul Tazewell's costumes are beautifully crafted but often outrageously red-white-and-blue gaudy. Hey, we know this is an American musical! Still, this Show Boat sweeps you away and makes strong men weep, so you know it's rollin' along.

Show Boat

Playwright: Oscar Hammerstein II

(book/lyrics), Jerome Kern (music)

At: Lyric Opera of Chicago,

20 N. Wacker Dr.

Tickets: 312-332-2244;

www.lyricopera.org; $54-$254

Runs through: March 17 (in repertory)

BY JONATHAN ABARBANEL

Connoisseurs of musical theater are sure to love this Show Boat, in which a uniformly-stellar cast impeccably delivers one of the most stirring and scintillating scores ever written for the musical theater stage. Connoisseurs of Show Boat in particular will find this Lyric Opera version better than many previous revivals, although no more definitive. In the pattern of all productions since the 1927 original, Lyric, too, alters the score and story.

Edna Ferber's 1926 novel concerns three generations of a riverboat family, specifically three generations of women. Ferber had killed off her two principal men halfway through the book, Cap'n Andy Hawks who owns the show boat and Gaylord Ravenal, the handsome gambler who marries Andy's daughter, Magnolia. In creating the 1927 musical, adapter/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein kept both men alive and eliminated Ravenal's consorting with prostitutes. Having Ravenal abandon his wife and child (as in Ferber's novel) was bleak enough for a musical comedy, along with a miscegenation subplot. Jerome Kern concurred, and poured his lyrical gifts into a dazzling score ranging from the iconic anthem "Ol' Man River," to the comic "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," to the jazz-influenced "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," to the soaring "You Are Love." Wisely, Lyric uses mostly (more than 80 percent) of the original 1927 orchestrations, which still are superb.

Lyric Opera's big change eliminates Kim, the third-generation daughter of Magnolia and Ravenal. In the novel and musical, she follows her mother into show biz and becomes an even bigger star. The adult Kim makes a wordless cameo appearance as the Lyric production ends, but her stardom is assigned to her mother and her big Charleston number is eliminated. Lyric director Francesca Zambello and conductor John DeMain hang this Show Boat on the central love story rather than on a family's history. This weakens one of Ferber's central themes, but isn't better/worse than adjustments made in other revivals.

Zambello smartly has cast opera singers as Ravenal (Nathan Gunn), mulatto Julie (Alyson Cambridge), Black stevedore Joe (Morris Robinson) and his wife, Queenie (Angela Renee Simpson) and musical theater performers as Magnolia (Ashley Brown), song-and dance team Frank (Bernie Yvon) and Ellie (Ericka Mac) and Cap'n Andy (Ross Lehman). The cast easily traverses the show's once-groundbreaking blend of operetta and musical comedy, with the chops to nail the songs, dialogue scenes and comedy (especially Lehman). Almost unique in opera, female leads Cambridge and Brown both are svelte, beautiful and can dance!

DeMain takes some uptempo numbers too slowly, and I wasn't overwhelmed with Peter J. Davison's set design (although the Act II stylized backdrops are excellent), while Paul Tazewell's costumes are beautifully crafted but often outrageously red-white-and-blue gaudy. Hey, we know this is an American musical! Still, this Show Boat sweeps you away and makes strong men weep, so you know it's rollin' along.