Dedicated theatre fans and historians are working to rebuild and operate the James Adams Floating Theatre, the one and only “Showboat” that steamed down the mid-Atlantic for three decades beginning in 1914 and inspired the classic musical of the same name.

The James Adams Floating Theatre’s venue was the inter-coastal waterways, making stops at more than 100 ports of call from Camden, New Jersey to Merritt Island, Florida. It brought the American Repertory Theatre to audiences which filled her 850-seat theatre, entertaining thousands of people from the time of the First World War through the Great Depression.

In 1925 Edna Ferber was intrigued by talk of floating showboats, declaring, “Here was news of a romantic and dramatic aspect of America of which I’d never heard or dreamed.” She spent a year tracking down every bit of information available on show-boats using her previous experience as a reporter, ultimately finding the James Adams Floating Theatre where she spent four days-- working, talking, rehearsing, eating and absorbing riverboat lore. She took copious notes on her last day aboard. She said, “I had a treasure-trove of show-boat material, human, touching, true.” Her novel Showboat was published in 1926.

When Jerome Kern first spoke to Edna Ferber about his idea to create a musical from her novel, the author thought he was crazy. The conventional musical theater during the 1920s was comparable to vaudeville, with side-show attractions and comedic routines. Kern eventually convinced Ferber by explaining his plans for a revolutionary new approach to musical theater, an imaginative reinterpretation of what was appropriate subject matter for musicals.

Like Ferber, Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II visited the James Adams Floating Theatre to get a flavor of life on board a floating theater. They collaborated to create what is considered perhaps the most influential musical of the twentieth century. Show Boat opened in 1927 and pioneered a new genre in the musical theatre. It was the first true combination of music, lyrics, plot, and authentic characters in a theatrical work.

The many remarkable productions since 1927 have developed the musical play into a genuine art form, but Show Boat still remains one of the best of the genre. Its frequent revivals, whether on stage or three screen versions, never fail to cast a spell on audiences.

For more information about the efforts to restore the lost national treasure of the James Adams Floating Theatre and return it to service bringing theatre to mid-Atlantic coastal communities visit:

http://FloatingTheatre.org
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52664408643

Article: courtesy of FloatingTheatre.org

To learn more about the American Showboats visit “Showboat ‘Round the Bend,” The Theatre Museum’s exhibition created in collaboration with The Waterfront Museum in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The exhibit has been on board the big red barge since 2007 and continues. For more information visit:
www.waterfrontmuseum.org