Faye Butler, Michael James Leslie, Daniella Dalli, Marissa McGowan and Ben Davis. Andy Hawks, is surrounded by fellow 'Show Boat' cast members at Asolo Rep, including, clockwise from left, E.

Race relations and miscegenation also are central issues, along with family dynamics. Or anything half as serious, outside of opera, as a story that covers 40 years in the lives of the people who perform and work on the Cotton Blossom as it travels up and down the Mississippi River from the late 1800s to the early part of the 20th century. “Before ‘Show Boat’ there was no such thing as a book musical.” “ ‘Show Boat’ invented the whole idea of the American musical,” said Michael Donald Edwards, producing artistic director of Asolo Repertory Theatre, where a new version of the show launches the company’s 55th season. The now-classic musical created in 1927 by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II from a novel by Edna Ferber emerged from a world of Ziegfeld Follies-type productions filled with vaudeville stars and showgirls to bring together song, dance and a serious story in ways that Broadway had never seen. Just 14 years shy of its 100th anniversary “Show Boat” continues to break new ground.

Goodspeed opera house showboat