Deaf West's "Big River" Docks in Boston

"Big River"

Music and Lyrics by Roger Miller

Book by William Hauptman

Directed and Choreographed by Jeff Calhoun

Musical Direction by Steven Landau

Scenic Designer, Ray Klausen

Costume Designer, David R. Zyla

Lighting Designer, Michael Gilliam

Sound Designer, Peter Fitzgerald

Cast in Order of Appearance:

Mark Twain, Daniel Jenkins

Huckleberry Finn, Tyrone Giordano

Voice of Huckleberry Finn, Daniel Jenkins

Tom Sawyer, Benjamin Schrader

Pap, Troy Kotsur and Erick Devine

Jim, Michael McElroy

Duke, Troy Kotsur

Voice of Duke, James Judy

King, Erick Devine

Alice, Gwen Stewart

Mary Jane Wilkes, Melissa Van Der Schyff

Performances: In Boston, now through November 21

Box Office: www.wangcenter.org or through Telecharge

Discounts: All tickets for all Boston performances are reduced by 50% thanks to the generous contributions of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation and a number of anonymous donors.

Additional Cities on Tour: Cleveland, St. Louis, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

If ever a "best ensemble" award were to be given out by The American Theatre Wing, the multi-talented performers in The Deaf West Theatre Production of "Big River" should all have Tony's. Most of the original Broadway cast is still intact for this terrific touring production, and it's easy to see why this recent revival of Roger Miller's musical adaptation of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was so highly acclaimed.

 

With perfectly synchronized acting, singing, voiceovers and signing, a mixed cast of hearing, hearing-impaired and deaf actors brings Twain's witty yet penetrating tale of pre-Civil War life along the Mississippi River vividly to life. Characters figuratively and literally leap from the novel as enlargements of the book's illustrated pages form movable backdrops from which the action – and actors – exuberantly spring.

 

Daniel Jenkins in the persona of Mark Twain sets the stage for adventure, serving as wry narrator and page turner of his own classic. Twain alternately gives actual voice to his title character as Jenkins transforms himself to speak and sing for Huckleberry, played here, as on Broadway, by deaf actor Tyrone Giordano. This inspired dual casting emphasizes the autobiographical elements in Twain's Huck and inextricably links the author's irreverent humor with his hero's boyishly heretical views of the world. It also allows Twain to hover unobtrusively but paternalistically in the shadows while the story of Huck and his other invented children meticulously unfolds.

 

In Huck's pivotal encounter with his wild and wooly father, double casting is used again, this time to hilarious effect. The drunk and disorderly "Pap" is played by two actors simultaneously – the hearing-impaired Troy Kotsur and his vocal counterpart, Erick Devine. As these two sides of the same man stagger, trip, and fumble across stage during their politically barbed "Guv'ment" number, one physically mirrors the other, doubling the pleasure – and intensity – of the father's buffoonery and later rage.

 

Huck's narrow escape from his murderous Pap is what sets him on his big adventure down the big Mississippi River. Together with Jim (Tony nominee Michael McElroy), the runaway slave he befriends along the way, Huck rafts from Missouri to Arkansas, conning conmen, dodging the law, losing a family but finding himself – all while experiencing "considerable trouble and considerable joy."

 

Giordano and McElroy give splendid performances, moving from newly acquainted travel companions setting sail as they sing "Muddy Water" to men finding common bonds in "River in the Rain" and "Worlds Apart." Giordano is joyful, wide-eyed, impish and clever as Huck, a survivor who is as savvy and sly as he is innocent and endearing. McElroy is heartfelt, determined, compassionate and brave as Jim, singing with a rich, resonant, silky smooth voice that wraps itself warmly around Jenkins' youthful tones in their duets, then takes flight in his powerful and passionate gospel solo, "Free at Last."

 

Every element in this production of "Big River" is enhanced by the use of American Sign Language by the cast. The growing friendship between Huck and Jim in the years prior to Abolition is made even more poignant when Jim gently places Huck's small white hand atop his own large black one while singing the lyrics "get on my back and ride." In contrast, production numbers become almost balletic in presentation. "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven?" has the entire company scolding Huck in unison, circling ever tighter around him with hands and fingers threatening. In the reprise of "Waitin' for the Light to Shine," a parade of celebrants trumpet Huck's personal emancipation from doubt and deceit, then suddenly fall silent, pantomiming their spiritual praises instead.

 

The cast, crew and orchestra perfectly execute Jeff Calhoun's brilliant direction, making the intricate coordination of voice, music, lip-syncing and sign seem effortless – in fact, invisible. So fluid are the interactions between hearing and deaf players that the audience sees the doubled actors as natural extensions of the primary characters who draw their focus. The result is a unique interpretation of emotion and subtext that is brought to the surface and amplified through movement.

 

"Big River" stimulates all the senses, giving added expression to William Hauptman's colorful book and Roger Miller's beautifully eclectic gospel, folk and backcountry score. With touching performances and powerful singing throughout the cast, this production of "Big River" should take its place in history alongside the great American novel upon which it is based.

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