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The 5 Best Chicago Architecture Boat Tours [2024 Reviews]

Welcome to the Windy City, where mob bosses once roamed, delicious food runs rampant, and architectural marvels rise along the beautiful Chicago River.

Without a doubt, the best way to enjoy the latter is from the water, the way that locals and tourists have been doing for hundreds of years. I’ve gone on quite a few, and I’m here to bring you a carefully-curated list of easily the top 5 currently out there.

These top Chicago architecture river boat tours will teach you all about the city’s architectural evolution from the late 19th century to the present, allowing you to marvel at the wide array of grandiose designs. I know you’re eager to get started, so let’s jump right in!

Be sure to see our reviews of Chicago Dinner Cruises .

Best Chicago Architecture Boat Tours

Quick answer: the 5 best rated architecture boat tours in chicago for 2024.

• Chicago River Architecture Cruise
• Premier Chicago River Architectural Lunch Cruise
• Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise Aboard Chicago’s First Lady
• Chicago River Boat Architecture Tour
• Chicago Architecture Boat Tour

Chicago Architecture River Tour Reviews

1. chicago river architecture cruise.

• Duration: 75 minutes (60 minutes from November 1st to April 15th)
• Departure:  124 N Streeter Dr, Chicago
• Departure Time: Between 10:00 AM to 9:15 PM
• Includes:  Architecture river cruise,  Live commentary,  A barcoded ticket allowing you to skip the ticket office and proceed directly to the boarding line

If you have yourself in the bustling metropolis of Chicago, a city whose architectural designs have influenced skylines all over the globe, you have to try this first tour.

This state-of-the-art cruise guarantee a unique adventure led by experts who will share with you some of the most fascinating secrets this legendary city has to offer. If that sounds like fun to you, make sure to give the Chicago River Architecture Cruise a go!

Depending on which option you select, you’ll either depart from Michigan Ave or right from Navy Pier – both of which are convenient if you’re staying anywhere near the Loop.

Hop onboard the sleek vessel and set off on a voyage that covers all 3 branches of the Chicago River as your knowledgeable guide leads the way. Should you have any questions, they’re there to help!

You’ll sail past famous buildings such as the John Hancock building, Trump Tower, Marina City’s iconic corn cob-shaped dual towers, and of course, the mighty Willis Tower.

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Learn about the history behind each one, as well as some not-so-well-known facts and anecdotes you may not have known about. With a cash bar on board, you’ll have plenty of soft drinks and cocktails, beer, and wine to sip on as you enjoy the Chicago splendor.

If you have an hour or so free on the first day you get to the city, I highly recommend going on this tour. It offers so much character and insight into what makes it tick, as well as so many tales of triumph that you may just feel that positively contagious energy, too.

I had no prior knowledge of Chicago before this tour, and I can positively say that I had fallen in love with it within minutes of embarking!

Tour Information & Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience, other experiences you may enjoy:, 2. premier chicago river architectural lunch cruise.

• Duration: 2 hours
• Departure: 455 N Cityfront Plaza Dr, Chicago
• Departure Time: 12:30 PM
• Includes: Lunch, coffee and/or tea

Next up, we have another fantastic river cruise that’s a bit more “intensive” than our first. The Premer Chicago River Architectural Lunch Cruise  is the perfect way to spend an afternoon and a much better alternative to grabbing lunch at a regular restaurant.

This tour is perfect for any time of year, showcasing the beautiful city at its very best throughout the centuries accompanied by a delicious meal.

Meet your guide and the rest of your group in downtown Chicago, where you’ll hop on the “Odyssey” – a glass-enclosed boat perfect for exploring the city in rain or shine.

It’s not only one of the most beautiful boats out there, but is also one of the best for enjoying 360 views without any obstructions. I immediately noticed how clean the vessel was, and the tables were all spaced out so that we had enough space without feeling off by ourselves.

As you meander along the majestic waterway, you’ll experience all of the city’s best architectural sights on each side of the river as you enjoy a tasty 3-course lunch.

I was a bit surprised at just how delicious it was, with a salad to start, and a choice of the chicken, salmon, pasta, or tender short ribs as the main dish. Oh my, the dessert of cheesecake was wonderfully creamy and decadent, but the sorbet looked very refreshing and nice for a hot summer day.

As you enjoy your perfectly-timed dishes, take in the looming skyscrapers like the Willis Tower or the Tribune Tower, along with the Merchandise Mart, Chicago Opera Theater, Union Station, and the legendary Navy Pier.

As you pass each landmark, the guides are there to recount their histories and important events that have taken place at each one. Whether you’re there for a romantic outing or want to bring the entire family along, this is the perfect excursion!

3. Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise Aboard Chicago’s First Lady

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Departure: 112 E Wacker Dr, Chicago
• Departure Time: Between 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• Includes: Live commentary on board, local guide, river sightseeing cruise

Our next voyage is one of the best for exploring the intricate designs influenced by the mighty Chicago River and the city’s dramatic history. The river and its architecture, themselves, have been witness to the ebb and flow of its industry, transportation, revitalization, and recreation.

If you really want to learn about its revolutionary stories of resilience and are on a budget, the Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise Aboard Chicago’s First Lady Tour is one of your best bets.

Your tour will kickstart with the Chicago Architecture Center, which is known for being a bastion of knowledge surrounding the celebration and promotion of the Windy City as a center of architectural innovation.

You will just see it from the water and hear about its story on this tour, but if you decide to go back to check out the interior, you’ll get a discounted admission of just $5 when you show your river cruise ticket.

The Navy Pier was one of the highlights of the tour for me and hearing how it has been used as the obvious naval base and shipping hub, to a present-day hotspot for entertainment was quite fascinating.

Marina City was also quite interesting, and you’ll learn all about how it was used to bring back more middle-class inhabitants. The Trump International Hotel always commands attention with its shiny exterior that begs to have photos taken of it.

There are plenty of other fascinating landmarks you’ll see and learn about, but the Willis Tower was definitely one of the most interesting for me. If you’d like to see some aerial views of Chicago, make sure to check out the Skydeck located there.

This is such a fantastic way to get the lay of the land and learn about the important metropolis, that you have to add it to your list!

4. Chicago River Boat Architecture Tour

• Departure: 465 N McClurg Ct, Chicago
• Departure Time: Between 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Includes: Local guide, port pickup and drop-off, bottled water, coffee and/or tea

Next up, we have yet another amazingly affordable excursion if you’d like to see some of the best CHI town has to offer. I’ve been on a ton of different types of Chicago tours, and river cruises like this one never fail to impress me or anyone else I’m with.

The Chicago River Boat Architecture Tour  packs in a ton of fun, history, exciting tales, and beauty in just 1.5 hours so there’s no reason to miss it!

Please don’t wait until one of your last days in Chicago to do this tour! If you’re going to take any advice, please let it be that you need to take this on the first day you’re there.

The incredibly knowledgeable, creative, kind, funny guides will create a masterpiece of an experience for you, making anyone excited to be in the Windy City.

Expanding on this aspect, the guides are all born-and-raised Chicagoans who are passionate about promoting their city and making everyone feel like family, which they do seemingly effortlessly.

Meet at the pier or get picked up at the port and hop onboard, where you’ll get to enjoy complimentary bottled water, coffee, and/or tea as you enjoy the amazing views of the city and river. If you’d like, there’s also a little bar on board for you to purchase beer, wine, and cocktails!

Here, you’ll learn all about the influential landmarks that line the river, including various skyscrapers, the lively Navy Pier, and the infamous “Bean”/Cloud Gate. I loved being able to see the 100-year-old Art Deco buildings which are simply timeless, along with various Neo-Classical and Gothic designs.

For any architecture or history buff, or anyone who can appreciate art, this is for you.

5. Chicago Architecture Boat Tour

• Departure: 900 S Wells St, Chicago
• Departure Time: Between 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
• Includes:  Restroom on board, Outside seating available, Seating is first come first serve basis, Guided architecture cruise of the historic Chicago River, Fully enclosed interior with air conditioning, seats, & windows

Whether you’re a seeker of architectural beauty or would simply like to learn more about Chicago’s wild history, you’re in the right place here. From old-school gems to modern-day marvels, you’ll dive right into the history of Chicago that’s carved into its skyline and the very fabric of the city, itself.

If you’re ready to be mesmerized and maybe even fall in love with it, then sign right up for the Chicago Architecture Boat Tour !

You’ll meet your guides right at the river, so you can hop on the boat and get situated for a fun time. You may know that while the Windy City was nicknamed such due to its locals being “full of hot air”, it’s no secret that the wind coming off of Lake Michigan is no joke.

With this tour, you get to ride in a boat that offers a fully-enclosed interior complete with climate control, seats, and windows so that no one is freezing while enjoying these picturesque views.

The live narration was simply impeccable, bringing to life each famous landmark’s intriguing history – many of which are lessons we’d never have learned in school!

Cruise on by both modern-day and historic buildings such as the Civic Opera House, the Wrigley Building, and Willis Tower, with some of the best viewpoints possible.

I had a ton of fun with the guides as they offered trivia about the various structures, which also seemed to bring the entire group together nicely.

Luckily for me, it was perfect weather when we went, so we were also able to enjoy the unreal vistas from the uncovered deck. Passing by Navy Pier and being able to hear the happy voices and laughs of visitors as we passed by was pretty enjoyable, too.

Overall, this is a must-do on any visit to Chicago if you’re serious about learning more about its architectural significance throughout the centuries. 

FAQs About Chicago architecture boat tours

What are some examples of chicago architecture i will see.

Willis Tower : AKA the Sears Tower, this 1,450-foot-tall building was the tallest building in the world for 25 years. It features a distinctive stepped design and a glass observation deck called the Skydeck that offers panoramic views of the city.

875 North Michigan Avenue : Also known by its former name, the John Hancock Center, this 1,128-foot-tall skyscraper is a striking example of structural expressionism, with its X-shaped braces and tapered shape. It has a 360-degree observation deck, a restaurant, and a lounge on the 94th to 96th floors.

Aon Center : This 1,136-foot-tall office tower is clad in white granite and has a minimalist appearance. It was originally covered in marble, but it had to be replaced due to safety issues. It is planning to add an observatory and a glass elevator on its south facade.

Wrigley Building : This elegant building consists of two towers connected by walkways and is inspired by the Giralda tower of Seville Cathedral. The clock tower and terra-cotta facade are lit up at night. It was ahead of its time being the first air-conditioned office building in Chicago.

The Rookery : It is one of the oldest standing skyscrapers in Chicago and a great example of design from the Chicago School of architecture. It has a load-bearing masonry exterior and a steel frame interior. It also has a stunning two-story lobby that was remodeled by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905.

Aqua Tower : This modern skyscraper is known for its undulating balconies that create a wave-like effect. It is designed by Jeanne Gang, one of Chicago’s most prominent architects. It is currently a mixed use building with a mixture of apartments, a hotel, offices and retail.

How much do the boat tours cost?

The cost of the boat tours depends on the length of the tour, time of the day and whether of not lunch or dinner are included. A 1.5 hour daytime cruise is about $50. If you opt for an evening cruise with dinner you can expect to pay about $100.

How long are the boat tours?

The boat tours are usually 90 minutes. If you do a tour that includes lunch or dinner they are about 2 to 2.5 hours long. Most of them cover more than 50 buildings along the Chicago River, from historic landmarks to modern skyscrapers.

What is the best Chicago architecture boat tour?

If you can afford the extra money and would like to enjoy lunch on your tour we recommend the Premier Chicago River Architectural Lunch Cruise . This tour offers a delicious buffet style lunch on a smaller boat so you can get up close and personal with the buildings you will be seeing.

What is the cheapest architecture boat tour in Chicago?

If you are on a strict budget but still want to see Chicago from the water we recommend the Chicago Architecture Boat Tour . This is a fairly standard 1.5 hour tour but its on a bigger boat so it’s not as personal as the smaller boats nor do you get lunch.

Boat Comfort

The Chicago River Architecture Cruise is our Editors Choice for the best Chicago Architecture boat tour.

Robert Baker

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Cruises & Tours

Explore chicago by land, water or air.

Whether you’re in town for just one day or are a life-long resident, cruises and tours of Chicago are a great way to see the sights, discover something new, or treat yourself to an unforgettable experience.

From laid-back sightseeing cruises and elegant dining cruises to heart-pumping thrill rides to upscale private charters, Lake Michigan and Chicago River cruises departing from Navy Pier offer a memorable experience for all.

Our Cruises & Tours

City Cruises

Experience Chicago from the water! Enjoy a meal cruise with chef-prepared dishes, live DJ, and stunning views. Or, take a Seadog speedboat ride for an architecture tour or a lakefront speedboat adventure.

Tall Ship Windy

Tall Ship Windy at Navy Pier offers educational boat tours, storytelling, student trips, concert sails, and architectural tours. Enjoy the Chicago skyline aboard our tall ship!

Shoreline Sightseeing

Discover Chicago’s iconic architecture from our fleet of touring vessels and water taxis. Our guided tours offer captivating stories from knowledgeable guides. Choose your tour, relax, and enjoy the skyline!

Groups And Private Charters

Perfect for corporate outings and special occasions, group cruises and private charters offer unforgettable experiences for up to 800 guests.

Bicycle Tours

Bike & Roll Chicago allows guests to rent bicycles for a fun experience on the lakefront.

Cruise & Tour Types

Shoreline Architecture River Tours

Take Shoreline’s award-winning 75-minute Architecture River Tour to discover Chicago’s renowned landmarks as presented by our expert and entertaining guides. You’ll learn how Chicago rose...

City Cruises – Premier Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan dinner cruises are the perfect setting for celebrating with friends, connecting with colleagues, or a romantic evening. Odyssey Lake Michigan dinner cruises are...

City Cruises – Premier Lunch Cruise on Lake Michigan

A two-hour Lake Michigan lunch cruise is the perfect way to enjoy time with family or the company of great friends. Retreat from a busy...

City Cruises – Signature Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan

Celebrate a special occasion, host a group event or share a romantic evening aboard Spirit of Chicago. Great for parties of all sizes, a Spirit...

City Cruises – Spirit of Chicago Dinner Cruise

Catch the Chicago skyline at sunset during the most beautiful time of the year, and join us for a fun, laid-back, 2-hour cruise. Spirit's Lakefront...

City Cruises – Odyssey Lake Michigan Dinner Cruises

Odyssey Lake Michigan presents special prix fixe dinner cruises, offering guests the opportunity to try one of Chicago’s most unique dining experiences at an incredible...

City Cruises – Spirit of Chicago Brunch Cruises

Whether you’re a native Chicagoan, newcomer, or just visiting, a Spirit of Chicago brunch cruise is the perfect weekend outing. See well-known Chicago attractions from...

City Cruises – Signature Lunch Cruise on Lake Michigan

With the sunshine reflecting off the lakefront, there’s no better place to enjoy an afternoon in Chicago than aboard a lunch cruise. Departing from Navy...

City Cruises – Seadog River and Lake Architecture Tour

Enjoy Chicago’s iconic skyline with an exciting architecture cruise on the Chicago River. Departing from Navy Pier, this 75-minute narrated cruise is the best way...

City Cruises – Seadog Lakefront Speedboat Tour

Our Lakefront Speedboat Tour is the best way to view Chicago from the lake, combining an exciting speedboat ride along the shoreline with informative and...

City Cruises – Seadog Extreme Thrill Rides

With exhilarating high speeds and full 360° spins, this jet-propelled ride blasts off to start and splashes down to stop. Experience full throttle slalom runs,...

City Cruises – Odyssey Lake Michigan Brunch Cruise

This two-hour brunch cruise on Odyssey Lake Michigan, departing from Navy Pier, is ideal for capping off an incredible weekend. Enjoy a delicious menu stocked...

City Cruises – Odyssey Lake Michigan Groups

Host a truly unforgettable event on Lake Michigan. Book your group aboard one of Odyssey's regularly scheduled lunch or dinner cruises, or have an event...

Shoreline Sightseeing Group Tours

Adventures are meant to be shared. Turn your next family gathering or corporate outing into an awesome adventure by booking with Shoreline. We offer special...

City Cruises – Chicago Elite Private Events

It's your yacht. Let our professional event planners create a custom event just for your group aboard the Chicago Elite. With two fully enClosed ,...

City Cruises – Seadog Groups

Planning a special outing for your group? Charter Seadog for an event everyone will enjoy! With the ability to travel both the lake and river,...

Shoreline Sightseeing Water Taxis

Shoreline Sightseeing’s water taxis are a great way to get around town. Starting in May and running through September, our water taxi service offers fast...

City Cruises – Spirit of Chicago Group Cruises

Host an event unlike any other in the city! Book your group aboard one of Spirit’s regularly scheduled lunch, brunch, cocktail or dinner cruises, or...

City Cruises – Premier Brunch Cruise on Lake Michigan

Experience the city’s most unique floating event venue! City Cruises offers all-inclusive packages, chef-prepared menus, full bar options, and entertainment customized to fit your needs—all...

City Cruises – Signature Brunch Cruise on Lake Michigan

Shoreline Skyline Lake Tours

Shoreline’s 40-minute Skyline Lake Tour offers a relaxing way to experience the panoramic of the city’s famed skyline as seen from majestic Lake Michigan. The...

Tall Ship Windy Chicago Skyline Sail

Tall Ship Windy is closed for the season and will reopen in May 2024. Visit the Tall Ship Windy website to stay up to date...

Tall Ship Windy Private Charters & Weddings in Chicago

A Beautiful Stage for Your Event Set sail on Windy for weddings, parties, corporate functions, reunions, church outings, tour groups, team building and more! Windy...

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CHICAGO TOURS

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• Hour Glass 2 hours
• Tag Walking Tour/Self-Guided Tour

Downtown Chicago TV & Movie Sites Tour

Enjoy a two-hour walking trip down down movie-making memory lane as you visit sites from shows and movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables, The Dark Knight, The Bear, and many more.

• Hour Glass 3 hours
• Tag Vehicle Tour

Chicago Suburbs Movie Sites Tour

Explore the infamous Windy City with On Location Tours’ Chicago Suburbs Movie Sites Tour! See the city’s staple locations from the view of the director’s chair as you cruise down the streets of Chi-Town in a private vehicle as you follow in the footsteps of the stars who once filmed there.

• User Ages 6+

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Get ready to hit the Windy City in style with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off epic tour of Chicago! First stop: the iconic Art Institute of Chicago, where Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron have an unforgettable day filled with culture and mischief. Then, buckle up for a high-speed chase through the bustling streets as Ferris outsmarts his principal, Mr. Rooney. Don’t forget to swing by Wrigley Field for some baseball fun before ending the day with a breathtaking view from the top of the Sears Tower. From museum adventures to city-wide escapades, this ultimate Chicago tour is the ultimate day off! #funthingstodoinchicago

Join On Location Tours for the ultimate Chicago behind-the-scenes TV and movie locations experience! Enjoy tours down down movie-making memory lane as you visit sites from shows and movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables, The Dark Knight, The Bear, and many more.

All aboard!  Hollywood on the Rails now departing!

Discover Chicago Through Film

Join a tour and learn something new about Chicago and movies, guaranteed. (Yep, guaranteed!) 

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Art of Ferris Bueller

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Your guide to Chicago lake and river cruises

One of the best ways to see Chicago is from the water. The city is home to two stunning waterfronts — the Chicago River and Lake Michigan — and each offers plenty of cruise options. Admire the skyline on a lakefront cruise, learn about the city’s iconic architecture on a Chicago River cruise, enjoy dinner and dancing aboard an all-glass vessel, sip cocktails on a tiki-themed boat, paddle your own kayak — the options are truly endless. Here’s your guide to Chicago lake and river cruises, boat tours, dinner cruises, and beyond.

See it all with Shoreline Sightseeing

One of Chicago’s classic cruise options, Shoreline Sightseeing covers all the bases. Their ultra-popular Architecture River Tour takes you on all three branches of the historic Chicago River takes you past dozens of landmark buildings.

They also offer skyline lake tours, plus specialty cruises and holiday events. Hop on a boat at Navy Pier or on Michigan Avenue.

Dine on the water with City Experiences

City Experiences dining cruises are the perfect way to create a memorable moment in Chicago. Choose from a river or lake dining cruise, complete with delicious cuisine, cocktails, and entertainment.

Their glass-enclosed river vessel is particularly stunning. It offers passengers panoramic views of the city’s most iconic buildings as you glide along the Chicago River. They also offer lakefront brunch and dinner cruise options that depart from Navy Pier.

Entertain the family with Wendella Boats

For three generations, Wendella Tours and Cruises has been cruising the Chicago waterways. With its variety of tour options, cruise times and lengths, and a heated, enclosed cabin, Wendella is a great choice for families looking for flexibility. Choose from lake & river architecture, sunset cruises, and more.

Admire architecture with Chicago’s First Lady

Around the world, Chicago is known for its outstanding architecture, and it’s easiest to admire the city’s legacy from the water. By partnering with the Chicago Architecture Center , Chicago’s First Lady offers the most comprehensive tour of the skyline — docents must train 100 hours before they can lead tours.

Speed across Lake Michigan on Seadog Boat Tours

Are you up for a thrill? Race across Lake Michigan on SeaDog Cruises, featuring 30 minutes of high speeds and exhilarating twists and turns. Come prepared to get splashed.

SeaDog also offers lakefront speedboat tours and a river/lake architecture tour, featuring views of Chicago’s iconic Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park, Museum Campus, and more.

Live it up on an Island Party Boat

Looking for a party? These tiki-themed boats are always a good time, offering drink packages, stellar views, and fun vibes. You can hop on an Island Party Boat at Monroe Harbor or the Chicago Riverwalk, which is also where you’ll find their beach-inspired bar Island Party Hut. Choose from a river cruise, lake cruise, tacky tour guide cruise, or even a dueling pianos cruise.

Go back in time with Chicago Fireboat Tours

Step onto a real, historic fireboat and get ready for a unique experience with Chicago Fireboat Tours . The river tours are given aboard a real piece of Chicago history — a retired fireboat that patrolled the Chicago from 1937 to 1981. Tours are led by expert docents and include historic and sunset options.

Splurge on a Free Spirit Yacht Cruises

Looking to splurge a little? These private yacht charters are the way to go. The spacious yachts comfortably fit up to 49 or 120 people, making them the perfect option for a large celebration or an intimate gathering. Premium bar and catering packages round out the experience.

Explore the Chicago River with Urban Kayaks

If you’re ready to ditch the captain and explore the water on your own, then it’s time to grab a paddle at Urban Kayaks . You’ll go through a brief training session before you hit the water, but you’re free to paddle the river or lake at your own pace. Or join in a guided tour to catch the sunset, fireworks, or historic highlights. Rentals are available at the Chicago Riverwalk or Monroe Harbor.

Rent an electric boat

Chicago Electric Boat Company offers fun and unique ways to get out on the water, including donut boats, retro boats, and even a bike boat that your group can pedal down the Chicago River. Rental locations include Marina City, the Chicago Riverwalk, and Rockwell on the River in Avondale.

See the skyline aboard Mercury Cruises

While Chicago’s summer fireworks are already fun to watch, it’s an entirely new experience when you’re on a 3D tour. Before the show, you’ll cruise around the lake and see some of Chicago’s famous landmarks.

Mercury Cruises also offer Urban Adventure, Canine Cruises, and Chicago by Night tours.

Check out Chinatown via Chicago Water Taxi

Hop on! The Chicago Water Taxi is a fun and cheap way to get around Chicago. The Water Taxi stops at Ogilvie Transportation Center, Chinatown, Goose Island, the Chicago Riverwalk, Michigan Avenue, and River North. Get a one-way ticket for $6 or an all-day pass for $10. Check their daily routes and schedules for more details. Cruises.

From this article

Tours & Attractions

Chicago architecture center.

Mercury, Chicago’s Skyline Cruiseline

Shoreline Sightseeing Company

Streeterville

Special Event Venues

Free spirit yacht cruises.

Urban Kayaks

River North

Wendella Tours & Cruises

The Magnificent Mile

Chicago’s First Lady Cruises

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Reviews from Broadway and Beyond

Feingold on Old Movies for Theater Lovers: James Whale’s ‘Show Boat’ (1936)—Part 1

By Michael Feingold

(This is the first part of a two-part column. The second part will appear next month.) Warning to my fellow voyagers: This boat ride may take our rickety vessel through some deep and turbulent waters. If the situation makes you queasy, please bear in mind that I am only your guide: I neither built the…

(This is the first part of a two-part column. The second part will appear next month.)

Warning to my fellow voyagers: This boat ride may take our rickety vessel through some deep and turbulent waters. If the situation makes you queasy, please bear in mind that I am only your guide: I neither built the boat nor dug the channel in which the restless waters flow. Like you, I am only here to observe. If that’s clear, let us get up steam and proceed.

The main focus of this essay is the 1936 Universal film of Show Boat , directed by James Whale. Often riveting in itself, the film is also a significant watershed in the history of this important work. The huge success of Florenz Ziegfeld’s original 1927 stage production—which had run nearly two years, toured nationally, and been revived on Broadway in 1932 with most of its original cast—still lingered in the public mind. While streamlining or altering much of the original, Whale’s film bears the stamp of authenticity. The original’s librettist, Oscar Hammerstein II, provided the screenplay; he and composer Jerome Kern created three new songs for the film. Whale’s cast is filled with artists who had performed in various stage versions of the work. Virtually all of the leads except for Helen Westley as Parthy, the stern-visaged matron whose husband captains the show boat, had previously performed their roles onstage. While not that unusual in films of the period, this fact in a work with Show Boat ’s status as a classic gives the film an extraordinary cachet.

But to perceive its full significance, we have to take on Show Boat as a whole, including multiple stage productions from the 1927 Broadway original onward, as well as the two other films based on the material. The task is a weighty one, and I apologize in advance for the possibility that I may get bogged down in detail when discussing one or another of Show Boat ’s many complex aspects. One main reason for the high value of Whale’s film, apart from the many pleasures it imparts, is that it conveys in condensed form the weight of this rich and sometimes bewildering work.

As a musical, Show Boat is both a masterwork and a problem, a history-changing opus that nonetheless remains obstinately embedded in the most troubling part of our nation’s past. No one will ever succeed in producing a wholly viable version of it; it will always remain this huge, flawed, half-distressing thing. And yet, because of its masterful qualities, it will never stop being presented, and being loved. Like American history as a whole, it must be taken for what it is—a vital, impossible, and gorgeous piece of our bittersweet heritage.

Show Boat was born out of a mishap, which may partly explain some of the tangles in its winding history. In 1924, the out-of-town tryout of a new play by Edna Ferber and her frequent collaborator, George S. Kaufman, was disrupted, in one small-town stop on its pre-Broadway tour, by an infestation of bats, which had taken up residence in the dome and chandelier of a too-long disused theater. Watching the audience flee in dismay, producer Winthrop Ames said to Ferber, “Next play we do, we’ll try it out on a show boat, playing towns up and down the river.” Ferber, good insular Manhattanite that she was, said, “What’s a show boat?” and when Ames explained, told him that it was a great setting for a story. Ferber spent a year doing research, briefly living on one of the last few surviving show boats (though not on the Mississippi), and then a year writing. Her novel, Show Boat , was published in 1926.

It immediately became a bestseller. More to the point, it attracted the interest of Jerome Kern, until then not a composer who could be thought of as harboring great ambitions in the music-drama line, but who saw the work’s theatrical possibilities. Kern enlisted Oscar Hammerstein II, the co-librettist of his recent musical, Sunny (1925), and the two of them went to the only Broadway producer whom they agreed had the visionary scope and the taste for lavish theatrical events to encompass the musicalization of a multigenerational chronicle:  Florenz Ziegfeld.

Ziegfeld, never one to shy away from a challenge, accepted this one with misgivings that soon turned into passionate enthusiasm. Show Boat , the musical, opened on Broadway two days after Christmas 1927, and was greeted by the press and the public with the rapture that only the Christmas presents one truly wants can evoke. It ran through the next year and then went on an extended national tour. A six-month return engagement on Broadway in 1932 brought back most of the original principals, with one notable exception: the popular Harlem baritone Jules Bledsoe was replaced by the man for whom Hammerstein and Kern had originally conceived the role of Joe: Paul Robeson. Robeson, who had already committed to a national tour of his triumphant performance in O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones when Show Boat was first casting, had played Joe in the 1928 London production, so the authors knew well what they were getting. The role and its key song, “Ol’ Man River,” became permanently identified with Robeson. He sang the song, often with lyrics amended by himself (with Hammerstein’s sanction), for the rest of his life.

We are now only one step away from Show Boat ’s significant place in cinema history, but we need to pause before we get there, to sort out the divergent stories it tells as play and as novel. Let me be frank about the latter: I find Edna Ferber’s prose fiction unreadably clotted. This makes no sense: She was a sharp-witted personality who could hold her own with the Algonquin set; the dialogue of the many plays she wrote with Kaufman and others is always crisp, lively, and highly playable. But Show Boat ’s elaborated sentences form a wall of thorns that I have never been able to fight my way through. So I must rely to some degree on secondary sources. My apologies for that.

Unlike Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Dawn Powell—the women writers who explored female lives in the context of a larger and more complex social picture—Ferber, like some other bestselling novelists of her period, catered to what might be called a housewives’ fantasy of feminism: The idea was to set the heroine going through as many and varied experiences as possible, while steadily removing all outside means of support, especially male, so that she was compelled to discover, and make a contented life through, her own inner resources. Magnolia, in the novel, begins as a naive and sheltered young girl who rises to become a retired great lady of the theater, with a grown daughter following successfully in her footsteps. In the course of her evolution, she must endure the loss of her father, a decades-long estrangement from her mother, the desertion of her charming but wayward husband, and the loss of a valued friend whom she later discovers in humiliating circumstances and who declines to acknowledge her. At the end, she inherits the show boat, most of these other characters having died, and returns to the scene of her adolescent romance and early artistic triumphs.

Hammerstein, in shaping the stage musical, altered a great deal of this story, to suit, variously, the conventions of 1920s musical theater, Ziegfeld’s taste for lavish spectacle, Kern’s longing for expanded musical opportunities, and what Hammerstein himself saw as the essential needs of a popular audience. In this last regard, he made key decisions involving most of the major characters: Cap’n Andy and Parthy would both survive to welcome the retired Magnolia and her grown-up daughter, Kim, back to the show boat; Ravenal would also somehow survive and—improbably—be reunited with Magnolia. Magnolia’s road to success as a performer would be aided, first, by a sacrifice on the part of the tragic Julie Laverne, and later, when Magnolia briefly loses her nerve at a pivotal moment, by the encouraging discovery of her father, Cap’n Andy, in the audience.

The story of Magnolia’s maturation composes the central plot thread of Show Boat , the stage musical, but two other elements play roles nearly as significant. One, only touched on superficially, is the drama of race relations in America. This has nothing to do with Magnolia’s ultimately disappointing romance except in depriving her of Julie’s companionship; Julie’s own travails as a biracial artist are seen only when racist malice forces her to leave the show boat troupe. Her later sacrifice for Magnolia’s sake (invented wholly by Hammerstein) goes uncomprehended and hence unacknowledged by Magnolia. The contrasting depiction of Joe and Queenie—a “contented” couple (despite their differences), contrasting also to the perpetually squabbling Cap’n Andy and Parthy—is too cursory even to be called a story line.  Yet it contains, when Joe sings “Ol’ Man River,” an emotional statement that seems to encompass the overall philosophic outlook of Black America. (In this context, Robeson’s later impulse to inject an element of activism into the lyric marks a historical change from Hammerstein’s perception.) Much more needs to be said about the show’s shifting view of African Americans, a topic we will come to in due course.

The second key element that weighs on Show Boat without altering the story of Magnolia has no dramatic significance at all, though it occupies a substantial part of the original stage production and has made its presence felt in every version since. This was, quite simply, the nature of the 1920s musical theater, from which Kern, Hammerstein, and Ziegfeld, all three steeped in its conventions through long experience, could not wholly escape. All three were well aware that they were attempting something quite exceptional. Hammerstein and Ziegfeld had both committed to the project only after a period of initial caution, swayed by Kern’s enthusiasm; Kern himself, despite his unflagging faith in the project, never attempted anything of its scope again. (The one relative exception to that last statement was his mistimed attempt, in collaboration with Hammerstein and Otto Harbach, to create a sort of prequel to Show Boat , Gentlemen Unafraid , a large-scale musical about West Point cadets from the South, forced to choose between opposing sides in the Civil War. It tried out at the St. Louis Municipal Opera, where Show Boat was a recurring favorite, in 1938, when the country was plainly girding for war and the work’s essentially pacifist message fell on largely hostile ears.)

The 1920s musical-comedy convention from which Show Boat ’s creators were half-consciously struggling to escape was that of a loosely structured and often arbitrarily plotted entertainment with a wide variety of elements. It is a mistake, however, to regard its form as incoherent or to assert that Kern and Hammerstein (or Rodgers and Hammerstein later) invented the “integrated” musical. The best practitioners of musical theater in the 1910s and ’20s took pains to make their works tell reasonably coherent stories and to spot their songs so that they would have at least a partial degree of relevance to the characters singing and the situation in which they sang. In this regard the comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan (greatly admired by, among others, Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers, and Lorenz Hart) provided one set of models. The Viennese “Silver Age” romantic operettas of the Lehár-Kálmán school supplied another. Granted, the musical still maintained its links to vaudeville and to the barely strung-together Broadway entertainments, connected only by an overall stylistic sense, known as revues (a Ziegfeld specialty). The 1920s musical’s reputation for incoherence came from the extent to which its authors and directors (often under pressure from producers anxious for box office success) sanctioned interpolated songs, specialties, and arbitrary changes of scene, tone, or event, particularly at a show’s climax. These were like cracks in the structural house the musical’s best artists were attempting to build.

Ziegfeld himself, like his star performers, expected any musical spectacle he was involved with to grant him lavish opportunities, in his case for visual display and variety. For his sake, Hammerstein seized on Ferber’s use of Gilded Age Chicago as a backdrop for Magnolia and Ravenal’s initial happiness, followed by Ravenal’s desertion and the birth of Magnolia’s independent career as an artist. He set the period of their early happiness (marked by the enchanting “Why Do I Love You?”) in the flamboyant context of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which he knew was historically important to Ziegfeld as the place where his entrepreneurial career had begun, as manager for the strong man Eugene Sandow. The Fair sequence gave Ziegfeld the opportunity for an elegantly costumed chorus of dandies (“When the Sports of Gay Chicago”) and for his particular specialty, a showgirl parade (“The Congress of Beauty”), as well as for a glimpse of the Fair’s best-remembered attraction, the belly dancer Little Egypt (called Fatima in the script).

It was also perhaps as a tip of the hat to Ziegfeld that Hammerstein found additional employment for the Black chorus that he envisioned as an important part of Act 1’s levee scene, playing and mocking the pseudo-African “savages” of the Fair’s “Dahomeyan Village” with the number “In Dahomey,” in which he depicts the “savages” as actually gentle New Yorkers longing for a pork chop dinner on the Lower East Side. Possibly he remembered that the great Black performer Bert Williams had originally met George Walker, the partner with whom he had created the first Black musicals to break free of minstrelsy, when both were impersonating “savages” in a touring version of the “Dahomeyan Village” exhibit. Ziegfeld’s hiring of Bert Williams to star in the Follies, after Walker’s tragically early death, had broken the color bar to Broadway stardom for Black artists.  (One of the Williams and Walker team’s all-Black musicals had been entitled, like Hammerstein’s song, In Dahomey .

These multiple answers to the multiple demands Show Boat posed make clear why creating the show presented its librettist and composer with such problems. Under Ziegfeld’s aegis, Hammerstein and Kern were in effect trying to create a national epic, a romantic operetta, and an insouciant 1920s musical all at once—and all while attempting at least a partial degree of fidelity to Ferber’s novel. That they created a work with so many inspired passages is not surprising, given their passion for the material; the astonishment is that their work had any coherence at all. Many have struggled, since Show Boat , to create dramatically integrated musicals, but no one else has ever attempted such a massive task. One would not expect to see Boris Godunov, Countess Maritza, and a vaudeville show merged into one theatrical evening, but this is to a great extent what Show Boat amounts to.

Assembling this giant jigsaw puzzle was no easy task. Even after the original show’s triumphant opening, Hammerstein and Kern reworked their achievement through at least four stage productions (1927 Broadway, 1928 London, 1932 Broadway, 1946 Broadway), plus the 1936 film version that solidified many of Hammerstein’s best ideas, while adding or reshaping others. (In addition, he and Kern probably made minor tweaks for Show Boat ’s repeated productions at the St. Louis Muny.)

Not all of Kern and Hammerstein’s repeated attempts to solve the work’s storytelling problems led to ultimate cohesion, and later productions have added their own tinkering, not by any means all of them helpful. The authors never, for instance, came up with a song for Kim that would satisfactorily embody the difference between her 1920s style and her mother’s (though many aficionados have a sentimental attachment to “Nobody Else But Me,” the 1946 attempt to fill that slot, which was the last song Kern composed before his death). Another problematic slot is Magnolia’s attack of stage fright at her Trocadero debut, for which Hammerstein and Kern wrote several interesting mock-1890s ballads before deciding to use an authentic song of the era and settling on Charles K. Harris’ “After the Ball.” (In one of their attempts, “A Pack of Cards,” Hammerstein seems to be envisioning a plausible death for Ravenal, which would certainly make Magnolia freeze. But he didn’t follow through with it, and the number went unused.)

The score of Show Boat in any form is exceptionally long, as if Kern had been seized by one gorgeous melodic inspiration after another, and simply couldn’t stop himself. Most productions, including Whale’s film, omit so many numbers—among them most of those I’ve cited in the paragraphs above—that you could build a whole other musical out of them. Ravenal’s jaunty “Till Good Luck Comes My Way” is one frequent deletion, as are the first-act specialty numbers for Ellie and Frank. Magnolia’s wedding-day chorus, “Happy the Day,” and the earlier ensemble in which the girls celebrate her and Ravenal’s growing fame as a romantic team, have almost never been heard in recent revivals. The fetching “Why Do I Love You?,” even though a standard, has become a near-standard deletion, possibly as a response to Hal Prince’s terrible idea, in the 1994 Broadway revival, of having Elaine Stritch, as Parthy, bark it ferociously into the infant Kim’s cradle—enough to traumatize a child for life. (Parthy is the only major character for whom Kern and Hammerstein never attempted to write a song.)

Like most of the other numbers mentioned above, “Why Do I Love You” is heard in the 1936 film only as underscoring. The same is true of the World’s Fair music, which in later revivals has almost entirely been omitted. (In Whale’s film we hear “When the Sports of Gay Chicago” as the audience leaves the show boat in Natchez.)

Another of Prince’s ideas, dramatically unwise but with strong musical justifications, was to restore the long episode, consisting mainly of dialogue over choral singing, “Mis’ry’s comin’ round,” which leads to the scene of Julie’s expulsion from the show boat. Its somber, weighty theme underscores that scene as well (in both the stage score and Whale’s film), and is heard at a number of other points, most notably in the show’s original overture. Kern and his orchestrator, Robert Russell Bennett (whose work is carried over, uncredited, into the film), apparently viewed this mournful melody as an equivalent of the Fate theme in Bizet’s Carmen .  Though sumptuously composed, the nearly 10-minute episode constitutes dead weight dramatically, which is most likely why Hammerstein cut it from the original production immediately after the opening night. It accomplishes nothing that cannot be conveyed more effectively in the brief, taut dialogue of the interrupted-rehearsal scene that follows, climaxing with Julie and Steve’s departure from the show boat.

Also, the power and grandeur of the episode’s music are welded to the troublesome, racially condescending notion that African-Americans, being an “earthier” people, have a sixth sense, denied to whites, that tells them when a “mis’ry” is approaching for someone. (Julie, being biracial, presumably shares the feeling but denies it.) The use of the stereotype in the emotionally charged context of this musical sequence reveals two significant things about Show Boat . First, that Hammerstein, as what we would call a well-meaning white liberal, is uncertain in his treatment of his Black characters—he wants to perceive them as equals maltreated by racial injustice, but has not freed himself from the clichés of racist thinking sufficiently to do so. And second, that he has never wholly sorted out whether Show Boat ’s main dramatic focus should be on its Black or its white characters.

Unquestionably, Hammerstein’s battle to harness all this material must have been a fearsome one. He had to show a semblance of loyalty to Ferber’s multigenerational saga while simultaneously answering his own and Kern’s instincts as writers of operetta, as well as Ziegfeld’s theatricalist taste for spectacle, plus Hammerstein’s own impulse toward political progressivism, which had to be balanced against a commercial audience’s expectations of stereotype “Negro” humor of what was then a widespread convention.

The challenge was enormous. One can easily sympathize with Hammerstein’s plight. Nobody in America had ever tried before to encompass so much in one light entertainment. Show Boat is great, not because Hammerstein succeeded in reconciling his wildly disparate elements—he didn’t—but because the scope of what he and Kern were attempting was so gigantic and so new. Issues of racism and miscegenation had been dramatized on the American stage at least since Dion Boucicault’s The Octoroon (1859), but virtually never in a musical. Lovers in romantic operetta had faced separation or tragic loss before, but never against such a background. And the idea of combining the two elements with the flamboyance that was the hallmark of Ziegfeld’s showmanship was entirely unheard of. Show Boat ’s ambitions are staggering; one has to go back to the visions of Berlioz or Wagner to find its operatic equivalent, and forward to off-the-wall concept musicals such as Kurt Weill–Alan Jay Lerner’s Love Life (1948) or Jerome Moross–John Latouche’s The Golden Apple (1956) for its musical-theater progeny. If Kern and Hammerstein’s results were all over the map, one has to keep reminding oneself what a vast map they were exploring.

Read more  Feingold on Old Movies for Theater Lovers : Preston Sturges’  ‘The Palm Beach Story’ Charles Laughton’s  ‘The Night of the Hunter’ Clarence Brown’s  ‘Intruder in the Dust’ Rouben Mamoulian’s  ‘Love Me Tonight’ Ernst Lubitsch’s ‘To Be or Not to Be’ Marcel Carné’s ‘Children of Paradise ’ William Wyler’s ‘Counsellor-at-Law’ Val Lewton’s ‘Cat People’ & ‘The Curse of the Cat People’

About Michael Feingold

Michael Feingold has twice received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. A graduate of Columbia University and the Yale School of Drama, he contributed reviews and essays to The Village Voice from 1971 until it ceased publishing new editorial content. He has also worked as a playwright, dramaturg, and translator. His translations of the Brecht-Weill music-theatre works are the standard ones published in the Kurt Weill Edition. (Photo: Stephen Paley)

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Chicago Scene Boat Party (Sat. July 27, 2024) Lake Michigan

Started in 2000 by Ted Widen, the  Chicago Scene Boat Party  is a “raft-up” of over 800 boats that takes place in early August on Lake Michigan at a spot on the lake called “ The Playpen .”

The Playpen  is one nautical mile off the coast of the  Jardine Water Purification Plant  (1000 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL).

The two closest nearby beaches are  Ohio Street Beach  (400 N. Lakeshore Dr) and  Oak Street Beach  (1000 N. Lakeshore Dr.).

This is the largest annual boat party on Lake Michigan .

What :          Chicago Scene Boat Party

When :         Saturday, July 27, 2024

Where :        The Playpen area of Lake Michigan

Time :          Sunup to Sundown

http://www.chicagosceneboatparty.com/

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