No. 2. “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”
Show Boat (1927) | Music by Jerome Kern, Lyrics & Book by Oscar Hammerstein II. Based on Show Boat by Edna Ferber
It’s 1927, and you’re seated for a performance of Show Boat. You are familiar with the writers—composer Jerome Kern and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II are responsible for many popular operettas (both together and with separate collaborators)—and it’s produced by the great Ziegfeld (of the lavish annual Follies). But this is neither a spectacular review nor an operetta, nor what you expect from musical comedy. The curtain rises on a Mississippi levy in the late 19th century where an ensemble of black stevedores singing about the struggles of their labor. They are joined in counterpoint with a white ensemble singing with excitement about a boat that travels the river staging melodrama. You’re seeing a musical that will grapple with complicated social issues through popular song. You soon meet Magnolia, the captain’s daughter, who in turn meets a charismatic stranger, Gaylord Ravenal, and they “make believe” they are falling in love at first sight. When Gaylord departs, Magnolia suspects her feelings were not imaginary. She gushes about the experience to Joe, one of the ship’s stevedors, before running off as Joe reflects on life as a black man in America working along the Mississippi River. Magnolia joins her confidante Julie (the show boat’s leading actress), in Queenie’s (Joe’s wife’s) kitchen. When Magnolia asks what to do if Gaylord turns out to be no good, Julie suspects Magnolia would love him anyway, and sings an old song she knows. (“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”). Queenie has only ever heard black people sing this song and is surprised Julie knows it. Joe returns and jokingly spars with Queenie before the number evolves into a rousing production number (that also maybe teaches Magnolia how to dance).
Show Boat treated musical theater as a serious art form capable of using musical conventions to enhance dramaturgy. It marks the evolution of the musical comedy into a musical theater capable of all the complexities of its non-musical counterparts. There’s enough history surrounding Show Boat to fill a 12-part Ken Burns documentary (manifesting!), and “Can’t Help…” embodies a lot of that legacy.
It does a lot of dramaturgical heavy lifting at a time when having songs relevant to the plot at all was optional. It foreshows both Magnolia’s fate (Gaylord, as it turns out, is an unreliable gambling man) and the big plot reveal of Act 1 (Julie is a mixed-race woman who had been passing as white).
It features white and black characters sharing a scene as friends, which was shockingly progressive for 1927.
Despite taking a definitive “racism is bad” stance, it also contains racial stereotypes and language that merited criticism from the black community in 1927 and continues to be a challenge contemporary productions have to navigate. In “Can’t Help…” specifically, Queenie and Joe’s verses have been revised, rewritten, or cut for decades because of their negative tropes. Even the song’s title (with its affected dialect) has not aged well. There’s a century of discourse on race and Show Boat. This recent article in The NY Times is a good primer on the topic.
Most importantly though, the song is an absolute banger.
Recommended Recording: ”Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” Show Boat (1994 Toronto Cast)
This cast recording is the most enjoyable way to consume Show Boat. It is comprehensive with an excellent cast that gives nuanced performances, a full ensemble, and lush orchestrations. Lonette McKey plays Julie (a role she previously played in a 1983 revival, which was the first black woman played the role on Broadway). Her sultry rendition of the first chorus is particularly delicious. Gretha Boston and Michael Bell are wonderful as Queenie and Joe, and I’m obsessed with their voices. When the ensemble comes in for the last refrains and sings their countermelody, I ascend. This production was directed by the legendary Harold “Hal” Prince. After decades of producing some of the most innovative new work Broadway had ever seen, it seemed appropriate for him to tackle one of Broadway’s first great turning points.
Alternate Performances
According to CastAlbums.org, Show Boat has received roughly 27 cast recordings, plus a number of jazz/pop interpretations of songs, 3 movies, and 2 tapings of professional productions.
1936 film - James Whale (Frankenstein) directed the most faithful of Show Boat’s three film adaptations. Helen Morgan, who originated the role of Julie and made a career out of “Can’t Help…” (and Julie’s other ode to a mediocre man, “Bill”) gets to recreate her performance here, and it’s haunting. Irene Dunne plays Magnolia, a pre-Gone with the Wind Hattie McDaniel is Queenie, and Paul Robeson preserves one of his signature roles, Joe. (The Criterion edition also includes excerpts from the 1929 Show Boat film, which was a silent movie with a prologue featuring select performances from the original Broadway cast…but not “Can’t Help…”)
1959 London Studio Cast (feat. Shirley Bassey) - This studio recording features less of a “cast” and more a roster of singers taking on the hits from the show in new arrangements. A young, pre-Bond, Shirley Bassey takes on “Can’t Help…” as a jazzy solo, and I love her intonation. Per Wikipedia, she also sang this song as a school girl and a classmate recalled her singing the refrain with such feeling that she made their teacher uncomfortable. But I think you can handle it.
1988 Studio Cast - This three-disk recording marks not only the first complete recording of Show Boat but one of the most ambitious and comprehensive recordings of any musical. Led by notable Jerome Kern historian John McGlinn, the recording brought together major opera stars of the day to sing a note-perfect recreation of the score and most scenes exactly as they appeared in 19271, with an extended appendix featuring new material written for subsequent productions. It can feel a bit academic—more something to appreciate than enjoy—but it’s an invaluable record. On “Can’t Help…,” you can hear the entire surrounding scene to get the full context. Teresa Stratas is Julie, with Karla Burns (Queenie), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), and Frederica von Stade (Magnolia).
Is it Covered by The Rat Pack, Audra McDonald, or Glee?
Rat Pack: Sammy Davis Jr. recorded a loungey version as “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Gal.” Lena Horne (who Wikipedia deems a “visiting member” of the Rat Pack) sings “Can’t Help…” in Till the Clouds Roll By, a fictionalized biography of Jerome Kern. It’s theoretically staged as an excerpt from Show Boat, but it’s just Horne alone on a stage, looking up as if she’s singing to a crashing meteor. Ava Gardner (once married to Frank Sinatra) played Julie in the 1951 film version of Show Boat, where “Can’t Help…” was presented as a straightforward torch song without Queenie, Joe, or any reference to it being a folk song. (Annette Warren dubbed the singing.)
Audra McDonald: While Audra has not recorded “Can’t Help…,” she apparently sang it as an impromptu encore for her senior recital at Juilliard. She also recorded “Bill” on her album How Glory Goes.
In the Wings
Many, many rabbit holes await if you opt to type “Show Boat” (or “Helen Morgan” or “Paul Robeson Ol’ Man River” or “Jerome Kern,” etc.) into a search bar this week. Song No. 3 is coming next Wednesday!
McGlinn’s decision to keep every word of the 1927 text (including inflammatory racial terms that Hammerstein and Kern revised for every production following 1927, including the 1928 London production and musical prologue to the 1929 silent film) caused a lot of controversy and prompted a black ensemble to quit in protest.
This is also the movie that ends with Frank Sinatra, as himself, singing Joe’s epic solo, “Ol’ Man River”