Productions
The first productions were staged by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February 1984 and at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, from June through July 1984.
The Broadway production, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Janet Watson, opened on April 25, 1985 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, and closed on September 20, 1987, running for 1,005 performances. The cast featured René Auberjonois as The Duke, John Goodman as Pap Finn, Daniel H. Jenkins as Huckleberry Finn, Ron Richardson as Jim, with Susan Browning, Gordon Connell, Bob Gunton as The King, Patti Cohenour, Jennifer Leigh Warren as Alice's Daughter and John Short.
After twenty-eight previews, a critically acclaimed revival, directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, opened on Broadway on July 24, 2003 at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 67 performances. This production, staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company and Deaf West Theatre, was notable in that it featured both deaf and hearing actors performing together. About half the characters, including the leading role of Huck, were played by deaf or hard-of-hearing performers. All dialogue and lyrics in the production were both spoken or sung and signed, making the production equally accessible to hearing and deaf audiences. The character of Mark Twain (portrayed by Daniel H. Jenkins, who portrayed the role of Huck in the original Broadway cast) was expanded, so that that actor also provided the voice of Huck, portrayed by Tyrone Giordano, who is deaf.
It was remounted for a U.S. tour, which ran from June 11, 2004 to May 31, 2005 and included most of the Broadway cast, and was nominated for several regional awards. A production ran at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. from March 18 to June 4, 2005.
Goodspeed Musicals staged a major production of the musical at the historic Connecticut theater. The production was directed by Rob Ruggiero and ran from September 26 to November 29, 2008.
An Australian production starring Cameron Daddo as Huckleberry Finn, John English as Pap Finn, John Bell as The Duke and featuring Marcia Hines and Michael Edward Stevens opened in 1989 at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney. It also played Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne.
Read more about this topic: Big River (musical)
Famous quotes containing the word productions:
“Most new things are not good, and die an early death; but those which push themselves forward and by slow degrees force themselves on the attention of mankind are the unconscious productions of human wisdom, and must have honest consideration, and must not be made the subject of unreasoning prejudice.”
—Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902)
“It is well known, that the best productions of the best human intellects, are generally regarded by those intellects as mere immature freshman exercises, wholly worthless in themselves, except as initiatives for entering the great University of God after death.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“If in many of my productions terror has been the thesis, I maintain that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)