I Dream of Jeanie (with the Light Brown Hair)

Composer and lyricist, Stephen Foster is on the brink of fame caught between two beautiful sisters during the glory days of the showboat era in director Allan Dwan's remarkable color musical extravaganza, I Dream of Jeanie (With The Light Brown Hair).

Featuring performances of such beloved classics as "Swanee River," "Camptown Races," "Old Black Joe," "Oh! Susannah," "My Olde Kentucky Home" and "Beautiful Dreamer" concluding in a centerpiece Minstrel Show Spectacular, I Dream of Jeanie (With The Light Brown Hair) examines Stephen's desire for the insensitive Inez while her younger sister Jeanie pines for him until her devotion to his art turns Foster's fickle heart towards her. With a message that "music allows you to express things in you that you can't quite say," I Dream of Jeanie (With The Light Brown Hair) is a lavish and loving portrait of pre-Civil War southern life. The script acknowledges the vast contributions of African-American slaves to the vernacular of indigenous popular music. Dwan's sensitive portrait of a polite society, rancid with inequality and hypocrisy is as relevant today as it was in the 1860's.

• drama