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| Robbie Fowler (Huck), center, is joined by other cast members for this ensemble photo for Taproot Theatre’s production of the new musical “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” |
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| ‘Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ |
• On stage: Taproot Theatre, 204 North 85th St., Seattle, presents this musical adaptation of the Mark Twain novel.
• Performances: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays & Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays, through Aug. 9.
• Tickets: $25-$32, available by calling the box office at 206-781-9707, Ticketmaster at 206-292-ARTS or www.taproottheatre.org. |
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Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008
Taproot tips its hat to Twain
‘Big River’ puts music to the classic story of Mississippi life
By Dale Burrows
For the Enterprise
Tap tips its hat to Twain.
The vehicle is "Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;" Music and Lyrics by Roger Miller, Book by William Hauptman as adapted from the novel by Mark Twain. It's a rambling, fun-filled, crowd-pleasing musical comedy as peaceful, wild and free as the mighty Mississippi River it takes place on.
At its rascal's heart is our nineteenth century national treasure and granddaddy to our best authors who came after him, Samuel Clemens, pseudonym: Mark Twain.
Twain's writing is the production's life force.
"Notice," Huck Finn announces, "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." The words are Twain's. They are direct, honest, spontaneous and unpredictable.
Like the show.
Karen Lund's directing is first rate. How she shrank the Mississippi River Valley into two hundred square feet of acting space for fifteen actors is a wonder of wonders.
You can't keep from foot stompin', toe tappin' and knee slappin'. Musical Director, Edd Key, is all over the hillbilly sound, and the band is right there with him. I swear, Gordon Tibbits's banjo's better than moonshine.
The Aunt Jemima look -- while it might be taken as a racial slur in these politically correct days -- definitely represents the dress of Afro-American women at a time when they were slaves. Costume designs by Sarah Burch Gordon are faultless to a T.
As are Ian Klein's Dramaturgy, Gin Hammond's dialect coaching and Bob Borwick and Christy McNeil's choreography. This is a clear-cut case of off-stage back up adding depth to on-stage performance. Front to back, everyone's on the same page.
Robbie Fowler's singing voice is no lead singer's. But his Huck Finn's got all the wild, adventuresome and unassuming ways of any boy coming of age anywhere, nineteenth or any other century. You live what he lives and take it from there.
A deeper, more resonant bass-baritone than Geoffery Simmons' is not easy to come by. A purer, truer heart than Simmons' slave, Jim, couldn't be better suited as a friend to Huck and a spirit yearning for freedom. If you know New Age, it was as if Jim was Simmons' walk-in. The part took over the actor.
As Pap Finn and Duke, Ryan Childers strutted his stuff, comedic and dramatic. He can be mean as a snake, funny as a pie in the face and most of everything between.
Be sure to hide the silverware from Edd Key's King. He'll win your heart stealing you blind.
In a way, this production is like the raft that floats Huck and Jim down river on the Mississippi. True to Twain, it's got no place to go but has a great time getting there.
Reactions? Comments? Contact Dale Burrows at entopinion@heraldnet.com or grayghost7@comcast.net.
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