BOCO's Yewande Odetoyinbo Stars in "Show Boat"

Yewande Odetoyinbo, MFA candidate at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, will star as "Queenie" in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1927 masterpiece Show Boat, running from July 6-16 for 8 performances only at Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston. Show Boat will also star Tony Nominee Michel Bell as "Joe" (Hal Prince's Broadway production of Show Boat); Broadway’s Ciarán Sheehan (Phantom of the Opera)as "Ravenal", and Sarah Oakes Muirhead (Sunday in the Park with George) as "Magnolia."

Tickets can be purchased at www.reaglemusictheatre.org, by calling 781-891-5600, or at the theater box office (617 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA).

Rachel Bertone, Director/Choreographer (IRNE Award Winner, Carousel, Wild Party); Musical Director and Conductor Daniel Rodriguez (Carousel, Barnum). Original set design by Mike Micucci. Producing Artistic Director Robert J. Eagle.

Yewande O. Odetoyinbo is a native of Detroit, MI. She is a proud graduate of Howard University, where she earned a BFA in Musical Theatre and became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota. Some of her favorite performances include roles in, Fannie Lou at Carnegie Hall and the national tour of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds with Adventure Theatre. She was most recently seen as Roz in Trav’lin: The 1930s Harlem Musical at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT. It is her lifelong dream not only to perform and teach theatre to aspiring young artists, but also to open up a performing arts school in Nigeria. Yewande is currently pursuing a MFA in Musical Theatre Performance at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Show Boat is based on Edna Ferber’s bestselling novel, following three generations of the Hawks family on the Cotton Blossom river boat from 1887-1927. The story chronicles the fortunes of naïve Captain’s daughter Magnolia and her troubled husband Gaylord Ravenal, and the lives of the performers, stagehands, and dock workers whose lives are affected by the ever-changing social current along the Mississippi River. Show Boat was the first fully integrated “book musical”, tackling issues of unhappy marriage, miscegenation and racial prejudice. The musical’s classic songs, including “Ol’ Man River, “Only Make Believe,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and “You Are Love,” have become mainstays of the Broadway canon.

Music by Jerome Kern. Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel “Show Boat” by Edna Ferber. The Reagle will be performing the latest version of the musical, arranged and premiered by Goodspeed Opera House. Show Boat is presented through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals: www.rnh.com.