TV Review : ‘Show Boat’: Smooth Sailing After a Bumpy Start

“Show Boat” keeps on rollin’ for three hours on public television tonight (Channels 28, 15 and 24 at 9). This version of the 1927 musical theater landmark, by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, was staged at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey and shot within the theater.

The first few scenes seem a little stiff, as the proportions of the river scenes are reduced to the size of the small screen. But the last half of the show moves more fluidly, more cinematically, between smaller-scale locales. We become caught up in the grand old story, directed for the stage by Robert Johanson and for television by Kirk Browning.

The casting is solid, with one glaring exception: Rebecca Baxter as Magnolia, the river-boat princess. She sings well, but her smile is a dead ringer for Leona Helmsley’s. Her bright-yellow curls in the initial river-boat scenes, probably intended to soften her face, actually make her look ridiculous.

Eddie Bracken is a jaunty Cap’n Andy. Lee Roy Reams and Lenora Nemetz sparkle as the comic song-and-dance duo. Richard White’s Gaylord Ravenal looks a shade too sneaky from the start, but his voice soars. Shelly Burch is a majestic Julie; her scene with the sheriff and her rendition of the Kern-Wodehouse “Bill” are as moving as ever.

P. L. Brown sings “Ol’ Man River” a shade too perfunctorily at first. His second-act number with Queenie, “Ah Still Suits Me,” is often omitted from staged versions, and here we see why: It’s not only filled with embarrassing stereotypes, but it’s also a leaden weight in the dramatic arc of the show. Still, it retains archival interest--and most of this “Show Boat” does much more than that.