In 1927, when Show Boat premiered on Broadway, popular vocalists would occasionally record a single from a Broadway show, but cast albums were not regularly produced, in part due to technological restraints. Of course, that changed in 1943, when Oklahoma! debuted as a full cast album, just in time for Christmas. Three years later, Show Boat got its first official cast album, 19 years after its debut. This ten-track recording is led by Jan Clayton, Carol Bruce, Charles Fredericks and Kenneth Spencer, singing to the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett under the musical direction of Pembroke Davenport.