Big River (1985)
by Claire J Rottenberg
"Big River," the musical play based on
Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn,"
played in regional theaters before making its way to
Broadway. In February, 1984, "Big River"
was performed at the American
Repertory Theater in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. The next performances
were in June and July of 1984 at the La Jolla
Playhouse in
San Diego, California.
"Big River" was introduced to Broadway
audiences on April 25, 1985, and it ran for 1,005
performances, closing on September 20, 1987. The
original production was directed by Des McAnuff and
choreographed by Janet Watson. The book was written
by William Hauptman and country singer-songwriter
Roger Miller wrote both the music and lyrics for
"Big River."
The original Broadway production of "Big
River" starred René
Auberjonois as
The Duke, Ron Richardson as Jim and
Daniel
Jenkins as
Huck. All three were nominated for the Tony award
for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and
Richardson won the prized award. "Big
River" won 6 additional Tony awards,
including the awards for Best Musical, Best Book
of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best
Direction of a Musical.
The score of "Big River" is unusually
long with 18 songs plus reprises of four of the
songs. It includes some beautiful numbers, such as
"Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go,"
"Worlds Apart" and "You Oughta Be
Here with Me."
"Big River" had a very special Broadway
revival in the summer of 2003. The revival, produced
by the Roundabout
Theater Company and
Deaf West
Theater,
featured both Deaf and hearing performers. All of
the dialogue and songs were signed and spoken or
sung so that both Deaf and hearing audience
members could fully enjoy the play. This unique
version of "Big River" ran on Broadway
for 67 performances from July to September 2003. A
year later, it toured the US from June 2004 to May
2005. The American Theater Wing has a video
seminar on this wonderful production of "Big
River" and you can download it from the ATW
website.
ATW Seminar on
"Big River" Revival