SHOW BOAT Opens The Glimmerglass Festival

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat opened at The Glimmerglass Festival July 6 in the company's first-ever production of America's original "musical play."

Glimmerglass Artistic & General Director Francesca Zambello helms the production with co-director E. Loren Meeker and examines the relevancy of the nearly 100-year-old libretto in modern society.

"Show Boat is based on the classic novel by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Edna Ferber," Zambello noted. "Her story took a clear-eyed, revolutionary look at the sprawling, messy society of the post-Emancipation years, the Industrial Revolution, and the conflicts between the North and South - issues still with us today. Kern wrapped it in joyous and heart-breaking songs that have become part of the fabric of our lives. The work is compellingly historic and contemporary all at once."

Soprano Lauren Snouffer, an alumna of the Festival's Young Artists Program, returns to Glimmerglass as the classic ingenue Magnolia Hawks aboard the Cotton Blossom. Snouffer's recent engagements include the title role of Rusalka at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title role of Lulu at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago and as several roles in the premiere of Tarik O'Regan's The Phoenix at the Houston Grand Opera. Michael Adams accompanies Snouffer as her gambling love interest Gaylord Ravenal. Adams recently sang the roles of Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles at the Grand Teatre del Liceu and Enrico in Lucia Di Lammermoor with Knoxville Opera. Versatile artist Alyson Cambridge returns to the role of Julie La Verne, which she portrayed at Washington National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Cambridge's additional performances range from the Metropolitan Opera to Rocktopia on Broadway. Tony Award-nominee Lara Teeter appears as Cap'n Andy Hawks, with Klea Blackhurst as his wife Parthy Ann Hawks. Justin Hopkins and Judith Skinner portray Joe and Queenie, respectively.

Head of Stage Movement and Choreography Eric Sean Fogel returns to choreograph Show Boat after associate directing the praised West Side Story at the 2018 Glimmerglass Festival, with scenic designer Peter J. Davison. Conductor James Lowe also returns to Glimmerglass after conducting the 2013 production of Camelot.

Show Boat runs in repertory with Verdi's La traviata, John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles and the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson's Blue. The mainstage productions are complemented by concerts, lectures, backstage tours and question-and-answer sessions with the creative teams.

For more information on the 2019 Glimmerglass Festival and performance dates and times, call the Box Office at (607) 547-2255 or visit www.glimmerglass.org.

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