OPENING THIS FRIDAY! Near West Theatre presents: SHOW BOAT May 6-22, 2016 Music by Jerome Kern Book & Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Based on the novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber OUR INTERGENERATIONAL SPRING BLOCKBUSTER! LARGE, RACIALLY DIVERSE CAST, LAVISH SETS AND COSTUMES, AND A STEAM BOAT ON STAGE!!! Performances: May 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 & 22 (Thurs., Fri. and Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.) Tickets can be purchased at www.nearwesttheatre.org<http://www.nearwesttheatre.org>, or by calling our Box Office at 216-961-6391 from 11am-4pm M-F. Accessibility notes: Near West Theatre's new home is fully accessible! Dedicated spaces will be available to view the performance from a wheelchair. "You and me, we sweat an' strain, body all achin' and racked wid pain. Tote dat barge! An lif' dat bale! Git a little drunk an' you land in jail." - from "Ol' Man River" "Wasn't marriage, like life, unstimulating and unprofitable and somewhat empty when too well ordered and protected and guarded? Wasn't it finer, more splendid, more nourishing, when it was, like life itself, a mixture of the sordid and the magnificent; of mud and stars; of earth and flowers; of love and hate and laughter and tears and ugliness and beauty and hurt?" - Edna Ferber, "Show Boat" Based on Edna Ferber's bestselling novel of the same name, this groundbreaking musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands, and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over forty years, from 1887 to 1927. With showgirls, gamblers, flappers, nuns and more, Show Boat is an old-fashioned, sweeping epic musical which explores themes of prejudice, tragedy, and enduring love across racial lines. Show Boat features such classic songs as "Ol' Man River" & "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." While Show Boat is infrequently produced compared to many mainstream musicals, Near West Theatre chose Show Boat not only for its excellence and historical significance, but to respond to and raise awareness of the current climate around race relations in America, the growing trend of racist statements by front runners in the presidential race, and violence increasing around who belongs in this country and who does not. "Show Boat was the first show on the American Musical stage to show black and white people living and working together and not treat them in a 'colorblind' way, says Director Bob Navis Jr. "Its themes include turn of the century race relations, discrimination, gambling, changing fortunes, miscegenation (mixed marriage, which was illegal at the time) and much more." YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT!