A century ago, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat changed American musical theater forever with its racially integrated cast and bold portrayal of injustice along the Mississippi. Set aboard the floating theater Cotton Blossom, the groundbreaking musical traces the intertwined lives of performers navigating decades of love, loss, and prejudice—backed by a sweeping score that is influenced by genres from spirituals to ragtime to jazz. In the 1980s, HGO made history of its own by restoring Show Boat to operatic scale—and now, the company is inviting audiences treasured classic!