Need help with a new musical I am writing

There are a good many books with illustrations available to you:
Showboats by Philip Graham
Chillun of Ol' Man River by Billy Bryant
Here Comes the Showboat by Betty Bryant
A Cargo of Memories by Catherine Reynolds King.
If you can't find what you want in these -- give up!

Charles, "give up" is not an option 🙂 --just go ask Pat Carr about her showboat experiences! She posts here sometimes.
S'
David D.

Charles Moman;11609 wrote: I have been commissioned to write a 2-act Broadway-style musical for Madison Indiana's Bicentennial to be performed in October, 2009. The musical will cover the years from 1809 - 1909.

[snip]

I have one scene in the second act where a showboat has come to town like they used to in Madison. What would you expect to see in such a scene? What would have been the likely kind of acts in such a show?

Maybe you can get Jazzou to play himself.

(sorry, pal, Schad was my first choice but he doesn't read the board.)

I'm sorry for the inside joke, Mr. Moman. But seriously....

I'd suggest you take a look at the movie, "Showboat".

And as a member of the oft maligned brotherhood of banjo players, I'd really expect to see at least one in the scene. If you don't have a banjo player, find a guitar player and tune the banjo like the bottom four strings on a guitar (E-B-G-D)

Paul

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I found Here Comes the Showboat by Betty Bryant on Ebay for $4.00 and bought it. I knew about Showboat - my oldest brother was in that when I was 9 or 10 at a local high school in Illinois. I will run down a copy.

I did plan on asking for a banjo player for that scene - on stage - not in the pit. The scene cannot be too terribly long, but I should be able to put in snippets of what I need.

I am just not conversant with that era of music. I plan on using a piano rag by James Scott that I found for a dance sequence in the act - it's called Frog Legs and of course is in the public domain. I will do an arrangement of it and it should work well. I also will have kids singing about the showboat arriving a la The Wells Fargo Wagon style.

I will probably include a few typical "acts" that would have been seen on an 1870's showboat. That is what I am looking for - just a few examples of what would have been typical - with that info I can get going on the scene a little better. I might also use songs from that era that are in the PD, or else I will write them myself. I do not want to deal with permissions and copyright issues.

Thanks!

There are extensive archives of showboat material in the libraries of Kent State University, Hiram College and Indiana University that might be of help.

Good luck with your project!

OH MY, Ragtime! That scandalous music!!! Good choice, however. NOW, you really MUST have a calliope announcing the showboat's arrival!! Hmm, that might be a tall order, but depending on where it's staged and the budget, I see two options: Tangley air calliope, or a Theater Organ imitating one. You do need to talk to Pat though!
S'
David D.

I probably would just use a recording of a calliope - that would be the easiest way out.

Of course, there is nothing like a person who knows what a calliope sounds like to imitate it. With the proper instrument (keyboard) a calliope is an easy thing to fake for one who knows the instruiments.

Just a thought.

~Travis~

Hello Mr. Moman, your show sounds wonderful. Why not consider hiring Travis Vasconcelos to play calliope style music and me to perform Frog Legs Rag? A good song for the crowd announcing the arrival of the boat is the great old "Here Comes the Showboat" - it has an exciting feel to it, much like Wells Fargo Wagon. Break a leg!

That would be great, but their budget would not take care of that. 🙂
I am thinking about playing some recorded calliope music for about 15 - 30 seconds before the curtain opens the second act. I might be able to find a calliope virtual instrument I could use on my Mac to create it. The showboat scene opens act 2 and is one of 2 or 3 major production numbers. I am doing an arrangement of Frog Legs for the pit orchestra to play.

This is funny Jazzou - before I came to this forum today I had done a search about ragtime music and your name popped up in Google. I almost emailed you to ask a question. I saw you were on CD Baby - I am too with my CD God Has a Plan recorded at Gaither Studios. Small world.

Charles

Home Page | Rivertown

I will check you out on CD Baby, Charles. Email me [email protected]

Jazzou

You mean get Bob Schad to play Jazzou Jones? Or Bob Schad to play Bob Schad? How 'bout Bob and Jazzou as a duo doing our infamous PA Denny Song?

Keith Norrington;11622 wrote: There are extensive archives of showboat material in the libraries of Kent State University, Hiram College and Indiana University that might be of help.

Good luck with your project!

Keith - add the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to that list. Their Showboat Centennials Collection is massive and contains enough showboat information to last a serious researcher a lifetime!

Guess it's ok to stretch things a bit but Scott Joplin wasn't even born until 1868, and wrote his rags in the late late 1800's through the teens of the 1900's. An old buck and wing predecessor of the rags would have been typical. Steqhen Foster you could get by with, it seems. Sentimental songs of that period were quite popular. "Bird In A Gilded Cage" type stuff. Melodrama. Vaudvillian acts. Although not PC, minstrel acts were a given, good for comedic relief after the melodrama. There was probably a lot of humor back then that we would roll our eyes at now. Corny, not PC, no not a bit.

Good historical perspective, Lexie. Many of us ragtimers often mention during the course of a show on the modern steamboats that ragtime (much less Dixieland) hadn't even been invented until well after the heyday of the steamboat and so wouldn't have even been heard on the river in those days. And, it really wasn't invented more than it evolved from those other styles you mention. James Scott's Frog Legs Rag was published by John Stark in 1906 and it was almost as wildly popular as Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag was when it was published in 1899. So, if you want a historically correct musical expression, ragtime should be left out of the mix.

Well . . . I have a book about Madison that shows a band from the Cotton Blossom playing on the main street of Madison in 1927 publicizing their show down at the river. Also a photo of the Goldenrod docked at Madison in 1936. My show spans from 1809 - 1909, but most of the show represents about 1870 - 1909. We are not dating things in the show and sometimes we will be "telescoping" history in this panorama-type musical that tells the story of Madison. So I feel safe with including a ragtime number within this context.

Sorry, Charles, I didn't mean to suggest you should leave ragtime out at all. It should definitely be included in any show possible, since it's just about the greatest style of music there is (my opinion :o). I like your expression "telescoping" history, as many old styles of Americana can be readily included in a show like the one you are writing without identifying strictly to any one time frame. Sure would like to see your production, as it sounds very entertaining.