Todd Decker is Assistant Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also part of the Film and Media Studies and American Culture Studies programs. His first book Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz (2011) was praised by the Wall Street Journal for its "illuminating, richly detailed analysis." His articles have appeared in The Journal of Musicology, Contemporary Theatre Review, and Eighteenth-century Music.

• Foreword by Geoffrey Block ; Introduction ; Part One: Making ; 1. A Ferber Plot ; 2. The Robeson Plan ; 3. The Morgan Plan ; 4. A Ziegfeld Soprano and a Shubert Tenor ; 5. Colored Chorus Curtains ; Part Two: Remaking ; 6. Featuring Robeson: 1928-1936 ; 7. Broadway Black, Hollywood White: 1946-1957 ; 8. Landmark Status: 1954-1989 ; 9. Queenie's Laugh: 1966-1998 ; Epilogue ; Appendix ; 1. Archival Sources for the 1927 Broadway Production ; 2. Select Stage and Screen Versions (1928-1998) ; References ; Notes ; Index

A fascinating look at how Show Boat helped shape the American musical form and the significant role it continues to play in our conversation about race. Todd Decker has compiled an exhaustive, engaging, and immensely readable cultural history that resonates with the same vibrant emotional impact of the musical itself.

Todd Decker is Assistant Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also part of the Film and Media Studies and American Culture Studies programs. His first book Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz (2011) was praised by the Wall Street Journal for its "illuminating, richly detailed analysis." His articles have appeared in The Journal of Musicology, Contemporary Theatre Review, and Eighteenth-century Music.

• Foreword by Geoffrey Block ; Introduction ; Part One: Making ; 1. A Ferber Plot ; 2. The Robeson Plan ; 3. The Morgan Plan ; 4. A Ziegfeld Soprano and a Shubert Tenor ; 5. Colored Chorus Curtains ; Part Two: Remaking ; 6. Featuring Robeson: 1928-1936 ; 7. Broadway Black, Hollywood White: 1946-1957 ; 8. Landmark Status: 1954-1989 ; 9. Queenie's Laugh: 1966-1998 ; Epilogue ; Appendix ; 1. Archival Sources for the 1927 Broadway Production ; 2. Select Stage and Screen Versions (1928-1998) ; References ; Notes ; Index

A fascinating look at how Show Boat helped shape the American musical form and the significant role it continues to play in our conversation about race. Todd Decker has compiled an exhaustive, engaging, and immensely readable cultural history that resonates with the same vibrant emotional impact of the musical itself.

Todd Decker is Assistant Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also part of the Film and Media Studies and American Culture Studies programs. His first book Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz (2011) was praised by the Wall Street Journal for its "illuminating, richly detailed analysis." His articles have appeared in The Journal of Musicology, Contemporary Theatre Review, and Eighteenth-century Music.

• Foreword by Geoffrey Block ; Introduction ; Part One: Making ; 1. A Ferber Plot ; 2. The Robeson Plan ; 3. The Morgan Plan ; 4. A Ziegfeld Soprano and a Shubert Tenor ; 5. Colored Chorus Curtains ; Part Two: Remaking ; 6. Featuring Robeson: 1928-1936 ; 7. Broadway Black, Hollywood White: 1946-1957 ; 8. Landmark Status: 1954-1989 ; 9. Queenie's Laugh: 1966-1998 ; Epilogue ; Appendix ; 1. Archival Sources for the 1927 Broadway Production ; 2. Select Stage and Screen Versions (1928-1998) ; References ; Notes ; Index

A fascinating look at how Show Boat helped shape the American musical form and the significant role it continues to play in our conversation about race. Todd Decker has compiled an exhaustive, engaging, and immensely readable cultural history that resonates with the same vibrant emotional impact of the musical itself.