Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi treats Simi Valley audiences to one of its best–and best-looking–productions ever, a terrifically performed revival of the 1005-performance Tony-winning Best Musical of 1985, Roger Miller and William Hauptman’s Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

 Adapted from the 1884 Mark Twain classic, Big River takes teenage Huck (Jesse D. Saywell) and escaped slave Jim (Donovan Wright) rafting down the Mississippi in hopes of a new life for the former and freedom for his companion in adventure.

With book by Hauptman and country bluegrass music and lyrics by the late, great Miller, Big River opens with pizzazz as Huck’s adoptive family, his fishing buddies, assorted townspeople, and even local slaves shake their fingers at the ever-rambunctious Huck in the full-cast show-stopper “Do You Want To Go To Heaven?”

With Huckleberry’s adoptive mother the Widow Douglas (Lori Lee Gordon) and her spinster sister Miss Watson (Anne Frankl) once again expressing displeasure at their charge’s recurring shenanigans, a frustrated Huck returns home to his alcoholic Pap (John Dantona), drunker than ever and railing as always against the “Guv’ment.”

 It doesn’t take long for escape to seem Huck’s only out, and so our young hero decides to fake his own death before heading off to Jackson’s Island where he meets Jim, on the run to avoid being sold down the river.

Together, Huck and Jim make plans to travel the Mississippi as far south as Ohio, which they hope will be the first stop on their path to freedom.

 What they don’t count on is making the acquaintance of the “long-lost heirs” to the French Throne and the Duchy of Bridgewater (Dantona and Adam Womack as The King and The Duke), whose plans include adding Huck to their shill act and selling Jim back into slavery.

As any Mark Twain aficionado can tell you, Huck and Jim’s adventures have just begun.

Parents should be cautioned that Big River does, like Twain’s novel itself, feature copious use of the N-word, including by a teenager taught to see African-Americans as less than human, making Huck’s growing awareness of Jim’s innate equality (“I see the same skies through blue eyes that you see through brown”) all the more powerful.

 In all other ways, Big River, directed with abundant verve by Taylor Kasch, is family-friendly fun sparked by catchy tunes, delightful performances, and enough plot to fill a book or two or three. (At two-and-a-quarter hours, the show probably runs a good fifteen minutes longer than it should.)

 In a performance that has him onstage virtually throughout, charismatic ball-of-fire Saywell gives Huck exuberant country-boy charm and spunk in addition to singing Miller gems like “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” and “I, Huckleberry, Me” to do the legendary “King Of The Road” proud.

Wright imbues Jim with a profound dignity even when insulted and demeaned and in chains, sings in a gorgeous baritone (the rafters-raising “Free At Last” is a particular stunner), and has great chemistry with his younger costar.

Max Chester’s boyishly boisterous Tom Sawyer belts out a hilarious “Hand For The Hog,” Gordon and Frankl shake fingers with the best of them in “Do You Wanna Go To Heaven,” Dantona’s drunk-and-delirious mess of a Pap rants against the dad-gum “Guv’ment,” adorable Grant Measures makes “Arkansas” a Young Fool showcase, and Amanda Benjamin (as Mary Jane Wilkes) shows off stellar pipes in “You Oughta Be Here With Me.”

 Joanne Gilliam (as Alice’s Daughter) sings a resonating “How Blest We Are,” and joins Richard Gray, Jessica Smith, Mary Poitier, and Sara Owinyo in harmonizing to gospel perfection in “The Crossing.”

Last but not least, Dantona and Womack milk every possible laugh out of the oddest mismatched pair of rapscallions ever to grace a Broadway—or Simi Valley—stage, their “The Nonesuch” proving a particular treat.

 Becky Castells choreographs several infectious dance numbers tailored to the talents of an enthusiastic local cast completed by Chandra Bond, Constance Chamberlain, Ted Elrick, Brenda Evans, Audrey Fischer, Brian Robert Harris, Ashley Maimes, Matt Mallory, Dawn Notagiacomo, Lucas Panczel, Nico Ridino Sam Schwadron, Cameron Tenn, Mia Vavasseur, and David Wright under Matt Park and Gary Poirot’s musical direction.

 Production design, not always a Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center strong point, earns all-around top marks this time thanks to scenic designer Will Shupe’s simple but simply gorgeous set–dock, raft, tree silhouettes, and the Mississippi River backed by lighting designer Shara Abvadi’s ever more exquisite sky,

Costumers Jan Glasband, Lori Lee, and Tanya Apuya, properties designer Eunice Sanchez, scenic artist Frankl, wig designer Luis Ramirez, sound designer Kevin Kahm, and live sound mixer Seth Kamenow merit their own kudos. (Off-notes in the horn section of the production’s live orchestra are mostly noticeable the “Overture” and “Entr’acte,” less so when playing backup.)

 Big River is produced by Glasband. Kimberly Kiley is production stage manager.

As delightful a boyhood tale as it was when Mark Twain first wrote it a hundred thirty-four years ago and featuring a message more needed than ever in today’s racially divided America, Big River is Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi at its finest.

Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley. T
www.actorsrepofsimi.org

–Steven Stanley
July 6, 2018
Photos: Jan Glasband

Tags: Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Mark Twain, Roger Miller, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Ventura County Theater Review