Changes to Big River?

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 9/18/17 at 9:13am

Just saw a local production of Big River at a small Equity theater in Munster IN. It's been a long time since I've seen Big River... but I recall an actor playing Mark Twain... I also recall somewhat liberal usage of "the N word." Neither appeared in this production. Is that how it's licensed now? When were these changes made? Any other changes happen around the same time?

Not looking to tattle. Just curious!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/18/17 at 2:56pm

Sounds like you saw a censored version which is unfortunate. I was in a production a few years back and the materials we received from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization included the Mark Twain character and use of the n word. If official changes have been made they're recent.

[At-the-glen]

Posted: 9/18/17 at 8:43pm

The recent Encores! production included. Either of those things, perhaps there's been a revision?

[Owen22]

Posted: 9/20/17 at 3:42pm

Didn't the Deaf West production include Mark Twain. This seems familiar but I've only see the original, the Deaf West and the recent Encores...

[temms]

Posted: 9/20/17 at 5:46pm

The Deaf West/Roundabout version did indeed beef up the role of Twain and made him narrator. As he also provided the voice for Huck (while Ty Giordano played/signed the role) they incorporated him in a lot more and added some small bits at the beginning and end of the first act. 

I worked on the show, and while on tour we played the Miller outdoor theatre in Houston. The show was on loudspeakers and could be heard throughout the park, not just in the theatre. Because of that we changed all the n-words to "slave" and it worked fine, thinking it would be insensitive to hear out of context like that. Every other place we did it as written.  

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 4/30/23 at 7:23am

Just saw a well sung production in Chicago IL. It kept the racial slurs, though mostly in the mouths of the antagonists. The one-dimensional portrayals of the black characters feels dated in 2023.

I joked to my friends that casting strapping 20-somethings as Huck and Tom Sawyer makes them read like a couple. It's the same issue I have with shows like West Side Story and Newsies. The characters may be feral boys. But they're written to be played by hunky well-scrubbed men.