Show Synopsis:
Cap?n Andy docks his show boat the Cotton Blossom in a small town on the Mississippi River and invites everyone to come see the show. Leading man Steve warns engineer Pete to keep away from his wife Julie, the leading lady of the show. Cap?n Andy fires Pete for fighting with Steve. A young gambler named Gaylord Ravenal meets Cap?n Andy?s daughter Magnolia and begins to fall in love with her, but is threatened by the Sheriff to leave town because he has killed somebody, though Ravenal says it was in self-defense. Pete and the Sheriff come to the boat to arrest Magnolia for having ?Negro blood? in her and having relations with a white man, so Steve drinks some of her blood so that they can say they both have ?Negro blood? in them. The Sheriff forbids Cap?n Andy from performing in town, and Julie and Steve leave the Cotton Blossom. Cap?n Andy makes Julie and Ravenal leading lady and man for their show, though Magnolia?s mother Parthy does not approve of Ravenal or having Magnolia perform. Ravenal and Magnolia marry on the boat. Two years later, they have a little girl named Kim, and Ravenal begins to prosper through gambling, but after a few years, his luck turns and he and his family are evicted. Ravenal decides to leave his family, and Frank, a former performer on the Cotton Blossom, helps Magnolia get a job at a night club where Julie, now alone and alcoholic, performs. Julie realizes how much Magnolia needs money, and leaves the club to leave a vacancy for a singer. Coincidentally, Cap?n Andy goes to the night club on New Year?s Eve and helps her get through her first big performance. Twenty-one years later, Magnolia has become a big musical comedy star, Kim has become a performer, and Julie is homeless and has resorted to begging. Ravenal, Magnolia, and Kim reunite on the Cotton Blossom and realize that they still have enough love to be a family.

Character:
Julie, a young woman who performs on the Cotton Blossom; is used to male attention but loves her husband; friendly and loyal.
Queenie, a middle-aged African-American woman who works as a cook on the Cotton Blossom; extremely kind; loves her husband Joe.

Song Context:
Magnolia and Julie meet in the show boat kitchen so that Parthy will not find them together, since Parthy believes that Julie is a bad influence on Magnolia. Magnolia tells Julie about her encounter with the handsome and young Gaylord Ravenal, and Julie shares a song that she grew up with about a woman infatuated with her man. Queenie and the kitchen cooks join in, because they know it too - Julie will not tell Queenie how she knows it because she does not want to disclose the fact she has black ancestors.	

Fun Facts:
1. This musical was based on Edna Ferber?s novel of the same name. 
2. This song, along with many others in Show Boat, became American standards. Ella Fitzgerald recorded this song in 1963. 
3. Show Boat was revolutionary because it was the first Broadway production to have black and white ensembles singing together onstage.