Big River (musical) Totally Explained

Everything about Big River Musical totally explained

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a musical with a book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller.
Based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it features music in the bluegrass and country styles in keeping with the setting of the novel. The Broadway production ran for over 1,000 performances and it remained a truly American voice in an emerging chorus of British musicals of the late 1980s.

Productions

The first productions were staged by the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California.
   The Broadway production, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Janet Watson, opened on April 25 1985 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it ran for 1,005 performances. The cast included René Auberjonois, Susan Browning, Gordon Connell, Daniel H. Jenkins, John Goodman, Bob Gunton, Patti Cohenour, John Short, and Ron Richardson.
   After twenty-eight previews, a critically acclaimed revival, directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, opened on on July 24 2003 at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 67 performances. This production, staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company and Deaf West Theatre, was exceptional in that it featured both deaf and hearing actors performing together. About half the characters, including the leading role of Huck, were played by deaf or hard-of-hearing performers. All dialogue and lyrics in the production were both spoken or sung and signed, making the production equally accessible to hearing and deaf audiences. The character of Mark Twain (portrayed by Daniel H. Jenkins, who created the role of Huck in the original Broadway cast) was expanded, so that that actor also provided the voice of Huck, portrayed by Tyrone Giordano, who is deaf.
   It was remounted for a U.S. tour, which ran from June 11 2004 to May 31 2005 and included most of the Broadway cast, and was nominated for several regional awards. A production ran at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. from March 18 to June 4, 2005.
   In 2007, the musical was staged outdoors at My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, Kentucky, the home of the long-running Stephen Foster — The Musical. The show was staged on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from July 10 to August 18, alternating with Stephen Foster and sharing cast members. Goodspeed Musicals also recently announced a major production of the musical to take place at the historic Connecticut theater. The production will be directed by Rob Ruggiero and will run Sept. 26 to Nov. 29, 2008.

Synopsis

Act One

In pre-Civil War Missouri, near St. Petersburg, Huckleberry Finn, "Widder" Douglas, Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, and Huck's best friend Tom Sawyer inform Huck, "You better learn your readin', and you better read your Bible or you'll never get to Heaven 'cause you won't know how." Exasperated with the constraints on his daily life, Huck escapes his bedtime and steals to the hideout of his best friend, Tom. In the cave, The Boys sing of all the escapades they'll perpetrate on their way to "the bad place."
   Huck returns home in the darkness to find his Pap waiting for him, who drags him off to his cabin in the woods. In his drunkenness, Pap swings from tomfoolery to extreme violence as he rails against a Guv'ment that would take his son from him. He attempts to kill Huck, but passes out in an inebriated mess. Huck, grabbing the chance to escape, kills a pig and scatters the blood and gore around the cabin in an effort to make it appear as if he's been murdered. Huck is being quickly forced to grow up, while Tom attempts to remain a kid. Tom then sings " Hand for the Hog"
   Alone on Jackson's Island, Huck asserts his self-assurance: "I, Huckleberry, Me, do hereby declare myself to be nothin' ever other than exactly what I am." But Huck isn't alone. Miss Watson's slave, Jim, is there as well. He has run away to avoid being "sold down the River" to New Orleans. Huck offers to help Jim reach freedom in the North. A posse is after Jim: with only moments to spare, they find a raft and get it afloat in the Muddy Water of the Mighty Mississippi River.
   Jim and Huck travel only at night and don't get far from Jackson's Island before they're reminded of the seriousness of their actions: a boat carrying runaway slaves back to their masters passes them in the night. The days are long as the two forge their way down the river. They narrowly escape capture and a collision with a steamboat, and, in a fog, sail past the mouth of the Ohio — their path to freedom. As they sing of the beauty of the River, they're set upon by the King and the Duke — two con artists who commandeer the small raft as they escape the latest mob on their tail. For many of the same reasons Huck is drawn to Tom, he's intrigued by the delinquent "royals".

Act Two

Huck, the Duke, and the King wash ashore in Bricktown, Arkansas, and attempt to fleece the rubes they find. The Duke regales them of the evening's entertainment: The Royal Nonesuch, a human oddity. By the end of the evening, Huck can appreciate a new way of life — the three are now several hundred dollars richer. When he returns to the raft, Huck plays a horrible trick on Jim by assuming the guise of a slave hunter. Unamused, Jim rebukes Huck for the first time. After some thought, Huck realizes that Jim, though a slave, is still a human being and deserves an apology.
   The King and Duke reappear to dragoon Huck into their next escapade. While Jim is, again, left alone with the raft, the three encounter a Young Fool on a dock, singing of his love of Arkansas. Through no fault of his own, he tells the con men everything they need to know about a fortune to be inherited in the Wilkes family, and they crash the funeral to go about securing their riches. Huck — through it all a pure soul — sees that the beautiful and innocent Mary Jane Wilkes is being robbed of her rightful inheritance by these "rapscallions", and steals back her money from the King and the Duke. He quickly stuffs the gold into her father's coffin and hides behind it to avoid notice.
   When Mary Jane realizes what Huck has done, she asks that he remain with her and become her friend. For the first time in his life, he's moved by the actions of another, yet he realizes that he's made a promise to Jim: one that transcends mere friendship. Huck returns again to the raft and finds the Duke tarred and feathered: he's sold Jim back into slavery for a mere forty dollars. Feeling guilty about what he's done, Huck pens a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where she can find the runaway Jim. After a momentary reprieve, Huck ends up feeling worse than ever. He tears up the letter and delivers one of the classic lines of American Literature: "All right, then, I'll go to hell!" He resolves to free Jim again.
   After a series of plot turns, Tom shows up from visiting his Aunt and Uncle Phelphs and decides to help Huck free Jim from his captors. They find him imprisoned in a tiny cell and work quickly to free him. Huck and Tom get him out of the cell but Tom gets shot in the leg, and Jim declares that he's Free at Last, though conveying the knowledge that he understands that this may never truly be the case. Jim decides to continue his trek to the North so that he may buy his family out of slavery, and Huck decides to move out West to escape any attempts to "civilize" him. They sit for a moment at the banks of the river, recalling their adventures together. Jim leaves Huck alone for the last time, and Huck decides, "It was like the fortune Jim predicted long ago: considerable trouble and considerable joy."

Song list

Act I

Overture — Big River Orchestra
Do You Wanna Go to Heaven — Company
The Boys — Tom Sawyer and The Gang
Waitin' for the Light to Shine — Huck
Guv'ment — Pap
Hand For the Hog — Tom Sawyer (this number was cut for the revival)
I, Huckleberry, Me — Huck
Muddy Water — Jim and Huck
The Crossing — Slaves and Overseer
River in the Rain — Huck and Jim
When the Sun Goes Down in the South — Duke, King and Huck
Act II
Ent'racte-- Big River Orchestra
The Royal Nonesuch — Duke and Company
Worlds Apart — Jim and Huck
Arkansas — A Young Fool
How Blest We Are — Alice's Daughter and Company
You Oughta Be Here With Me — Mary Jane Wilkes, Susan Wilkes and Joanna Wilkes
How Blest We Are (Reprise) — Company
Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go — Mary Jane Wilkes, Jim and Huck
Waitin' for the Light to Shine (Reprise) — Huck
Free At Last — Jim
River in the Rain (Reprise) — Huck and Jim
Muddy Water (Reprise) — Company

Awards and nominations

Original production

Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)

Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (winner)

Tony Award for Best Original Score (winner)

Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Richardson, winner; Jenkins and Auberjonois, nominees)

Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (winner)

Tony Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)

Tony Award for Best Lighting Design (winner)

Theatre World Award (Cohenour, winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Richardson, winner; Jenkins, nominee)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Auberjonois, winner; Short, Gunton, and Goodman, nominees)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Cohenour, nominee)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestration (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design (winner) 2003 revival

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (nominee)

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael McElroy, nominee)

Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre (winner)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical (nominee)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Giordano and McElroy, nominees)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee) Further Information

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