Big River

OPENING: April 25, 1985

CLOSING: September 20, 1987

Seen: October 1985

LOCATION: Eugene O’Neill Theatre

What was your favorite book you had to read in middle school?

Anyone who knows me now knows that I LOVE my books. Fantasy, feminist lit, certain classics – if it’s edgy and the author wasn’t paid by the word (Looking at you there, Dickens), I’ve probably devoured it or will at some point. So the question above for me is an easy answer – To Kill A Mockingbird.

I think the better question for me is “What book did you most despise?” and I can absolutely give you a list.

As a writer, it baffles me that we teach our students to look for symbolism in absolutely everything. Mind you, if someone reads one of my plays in the future and decides to turn some innoculous little detail into some metaphor for the meaning of life, I’ll be thrilled. But for the most part, that’s not how I roll and I think that’s how Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and the rest of them operated as well. And the books that are read in most curriculums? I think they need a revamp.

So imagine my utmost dismay when I discovered that the next show on our list is Big River – the stage version of Mark Twin’s Huckleberry Finn.

I wasn’t forced to read this one as a kid. I mercifully missed this piece of misogynist slosh due to bypassing the public school system. But when I read it as an adult, I was horrified that this racism is allowed in our schools and considered education.

Don’t get me started on Romeo and Juliet.

But my (apparently unpopular) opinions aside, there are many who believe that Huck Finn highlights how brutal the south was and therefore it is not a racist piece. Perhaps that’s true. And one of those holding this opinion was Ron Richardson – the man who played Jim in the original cast of Big River.

The creators clearly loved the source material. Heidi Landesman’s set was highly praised for being extremely true to how a set in the 1880’s would have looked. William Hauptman’s was extremely true to the book. Richardson had to come to terms with being referred to by a certain word that as a white girl, I am neither comfortable nor allowed to use. And Frank Rich, the New York Times reviewer of the time, clearly loved the book as well and seemed very pleased with seeing an adaptation on stage.

But Rich’s love of the book did allow him to make some harsher critiques than I’ve seen of him elsewhere. I have often been told that I am an awful person to see adaptations of books with; Rich seems to have been the same kind of viewer. His reviews claim that Big River focused too much on the smaller anecdotes and not enough on the larger plot and themes of the story. Not having seen the show myself, I cannot in good conscience say whether this is a valid complaint or not; but as an avid reader, I have to laugh a little bit in reading that particular review. Long time friends of mine will remember that I was extremely vocal with very similar complaints about a certain franchise of book to movie adaptations in my youth.

By this point, my parents were married. Gone were the days where my mom was blown away by the magic of Broadway; instead, she fell in love with the magic of it as well. Her favorite thing to do when she had family visiting was to bring them to the theater to experience the joy that only live theater can bring. That’s what they did with Big River. She brought her sister, brother-in-law, and seven year old niece with them to see this one. My mom specifically remembers that there was real water on the stage that Huck and Finn poled the boat through to represent the water; my cousin (Who I will refer to as M) was so transfixed that she turned to my mom at one point, completely wide eyed, and said “Is that real?”

We lost M in 2004. To my knowledge, she never saw anything else on Broadway. I could be wrong; I was so much younger than her and we weren’t local to each other. But I like to think that my mom gave her a gift that day.

And once again – my dad did not know what he was seeing when he saw this show. Once again, he saw Brent Spiner on stage. He and I have watched Star Trek: The Next Generation fully through several times, and some of my earliest memories were sitting on the floor being terrified of Lt. Worf and being entranced by the ethereal Deanna Troi. When I tell him that he saw Brent Spiner not once but twice before TNG was even on the air waves – I think this makes him sad.

Another gem hidden in these pages? In the ensemble, making her Broadway debut, was a young woman. Her headshot and bio aren’t even listed in the playbill because in 1985, only the principals got such acclaim. But as I was writing out this cast list, I found her. And according to IBDB, she would have started in the production at just about the time my dad saw this show. Her name was Marin Mazzie.

This season, Broadway has adapted two books to the stage: Water for Elephants and The Outsiders. Having read both books, my Theatre Kid heart sings (See what I did there?) that two incredible books are being presented theatrically. A part of me wonders if The Outsiders is the New Big River – a book that speaks to the adolescent male. Unlike Huck Finn, I actually read The Outsiders when I was the target age group for the story, so perhaps that is why I’m a bit more excited over the idea of it. At any rate, as critical as I am over beloved books being adapted correctly, I’m glad that these stories are being told.

CAST: REPLACEMENT

MARK TWAIN: Gordon Connell

HUCKLEBERRY FINN: Daniel Jenkins

WIDOW DOUGLAS: Susan Browning

MISS WATSON: Evalyn Baron

JIM: Ron Richardson

TOM SAWYER: Clint Allen

BEN ROGERS: Neal Jones

JO HARPER: Andi Henig

SIMON: Aramis Estevez

DICK: Michael Brian

PAP FINN: Leo Burmester

JUDGE THATCHER: Ralph Byers

WOMAN IN SHANTY: Evalyn Baron

SLAVES AND OVERSEERS ON A FLATBOAT: Carol Woods, Harry L. Burney III, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Franz Jones, Aramis Estevez, Leo Burmester, Neal Jones, Michael Brian.

THREE MEN ON A SKIFF: Ralph Byers, Reathel Bean, Harry L. Burney III

THE KING: Robert Sevra

THE DUKE: Brent Spiner

SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS: The Company.

HANK: Neal Jones

ANDY: Michael Brian

LAFE: Reathel Bean

TOWNSPEOPLE: The Company

A YOUNG FOOL: Neal Jones

MARY JANE WILKES: Patti Cohenour

SUSAN WILKES: Peggy Harmon

JOANNA WILKES, A HARE-LIP: Andi Henig

BILL, A SERVANT: Franz Jones

COUNSELOR ROBINSON: Reathel Bean

ALICE, THE WILKES SLAVE: Carol Woods

ALICE’S DAUGHTER: Jennifer Leigh Warren

MOURNERS: The Company

SHERRIFF BELL: John Goodman

MAN IN THE CROWD: Ralph Byers

HARMONIA PLAYER: Michael Brian

MOURNERS AND MOB: The Company

SALLY PHELPS: Susan Browning

SILAS PHELPS: Ralph Byers

DOCTOR: Gordon Connell

HIRED HANDS: Reathel Bean, Michael Brian, Leo Burmester

UNDERSTUDIES: Matrin Moran (Huck); Neal Jones (Huck, Ensemble); George Merritt (Jim, Ensemble); Harry L. Burney III (Jim, Ensemble); William McClary (King, Preacher In The Prologue, Ensemble); Russell Leib (Duke, Teacher in the Prologue); Peggy Harmon (Ensemble); Linda Kerns (Ensemble); Marin Mazzie (Ensemble); and Robert Sevra (Ensemble).

Bordman, Gerald. “American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle.” New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1978.

Internet Broadway Database. “Marin Mazzie.” Accessed April 2024. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/marin-mazzie-68268

New York Times. “’Big River’ Closes Sunday.” June 12, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/17/theater/big-river-closing-sunday.html?searchResultPosition=1

New York Times. “’Big River’ Enjoys a Big Jump in Sales.” September 17, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/12/theater/big-river-enjoys-a-big-jump-in-business.html?searchResultPosition=19

Rich, Frank. “Stage: With Huck Finn on the ‘Big River’” New York Times, April 26, 2985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/29/theater/stage-biloxi-blues-simon-s-new-comedy.html

Robertson, Nan. “’Big River’s’ Big Voice: Jim The Slave”. New York Times, May 2, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/02/theater/big-river-s-big-voice-jim-the-slave.html?searchResultPosition=20