EsmeraldaDaae
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Big RiverDoes anybody know (and like) this musical?I've grown up with the original cast recording.When I learned that a SIGN LANGUAGE-TRANSLATED REVIVAL was up for some awards at the Tony's,I wanted to see it!Too bad,though.I learned it never went on tour in Chicago.
Does anybody have pictures or any video's of the revival with Tyrone Giordano?If so,please put them here!
It's a musical based on the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".It's a story set in a fictitious town in the American Deep South in the 1840's,long before the Civil War.The book itself was written in 1884.
I'm notorious for long posts (some),so I'll keep it up to only a synopsis and some of the song lyrics.
The composer and lyricist is Roger Miller.The show was 1st performed in 1985.
This is the synopsis from Wikipedia:
Act One
"Sometimes it seemed like the whole blame town of St. Petersburg was telling me who I should be." Huck was right. Between the "Widder" Douglas and Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, and even his best friend Tom Sawyer, everyone has their opinion about how Huck should comport himself. Do You Wanna Go to Heaven? they inquire. "You better learn your readin' and you better read your Bible or you'll never get to Heaven 'cause you won't know how."
Exasperated with the constraints on his daily life, Huck escapes his bedtime and steals to the hideout of his best friend, Tom. In the cave, The Boys sing of all the escapades they'll perpetrate on their way to "the bad place."
Huck returns home in the darkness and tells us that he is Waiting for the Light to Shine. He finds his Pap waiting for him, who drags him off to his cabin in the woods. In his drunkenness, Pap swings from tomfoolery to extreme violence as he rails against a Guv'ment that would take his son from him. He attempts to take Huck's life, and passes out in an inebriated mess.
Huck, realizing his chance to escape, kills a pig and scatters the blood and gore around the cabin in an effort to make it appear as if he's been murdered. Huck is being quickly forced to grow up, while Tom sings Hand For the Hog — a typical Roger Miller tune — in every attempt to remain a kid.
Alone on Jackson's Island, Huck asserts his self-assurance: "I, Huckleberry, Me, do hereby declare myself to be nothin' ever other than exactly what I am."
But, perhaps Huck isn't alone. Miss Watson's slave, Jim, is there as well. He has run away to avoid being "sold down the River" to New Orleans. Growing up faster by the second, Huck offers to help Jim reach freedom in the North. A posse is after Jim: with only moments to spare, they find a raft and get it afloat in the Muddy Water of the Mighty Mississip.
Jim and Huck travel only at night and don't get far from Jackson's Island before they are reminded of the seriousness of their actions: a boat carrying runaway slaves back to their masters passes them in the night. The fugitives don't move a muscle as they hear the slaves sing of The Crossing, of moving away from — not toward — freedom.
The days are long as they forge their way down the river. They narrowly escape capture and a collision with a steamboat, and, in a fog, sail past the mouth of the Ohio — their path to freedom. Oblivious, they sing of the beauty of the River In the Rain — one of the most memorable moments of the show — under a canopy of stars.
As they finish their paean to the beauty of the River, they are set upon by the King and the Duke — two con artists who commandeer the small raft as they escape the latest mob on their tail. For many of the same reasons Huck is drawn to Tom, he is intrigued by the delinquents in his midst. The "royals" sing of what happens When the Sun Goes Down in the South, while Jim pines away for his Muddy Water as the curtain falls.
Act Two
Huck, the Duke, and the King have embarked upon their first sham.They have washed ashore in Bricktown, Arkansas, and attempt to fleece the rubes they find.The Duke regales them of the evening's entertainment:The Royal Nonesuch, a human oddity.By the end of the evening, Huck can appreciate a new way of life — the three are now several hundred dollars richer.
When he returns to the raft, he plays a horrible trick on Jim by assuming the guise of a slave hunter. Unamused, Jim rebukes Huck for the first time. After some thought, Huck realizes that Jim, though a slave, is still a human being and deserving of an apology. They realize that for all of their friendship, they are still Worlds Apart.
The King and Duke never allow Huck to fully re-enter his humanistic world, and they reappear to dragoon Huck into their next escapade. While Jim is, again, left alone with the raft, the three encounter a Young Fool on a dock, singing of his love of Arkansas. Through no fault of his own, he tells the con men everything they need to know about a fortune to be inherited in the Wilkes family, and as Arkansas segues into How Blest We Are, the criminals enter the funeral and go about securing their riches.
Huck — through it all a pure soul — sees that the beautiful and innocent Mary Jane Wilkes is being robbed of her rightful inheritance by these "rapscallions", and steals her money from the King and the Duke. He quickly stuffs the gold into her father's coffin and hides behind it to avoid notice. She tells her dead father, "If you think it's lonesome where you are tonight, You Oughta Be Here with Me."
When Mary Jane realizes what Huck has done, she asks that he remain with her and become her friend. For the first time in his life, he is moved by the actions of another, yet he realizes that he has made a promise to Jim: one that transcends mere friendship. Center stage, caught halfway between Mary Jane and Jim, the three come to understand that Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go.
Huck returns again to the raft and finds the Duke tarred and feathered: he has sold Jim back into slavery for a mere forty dollars. Feeling guilty about what he has done, Huck pens a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where she can find the runaway Jim. After a momentary reprieve, Huck ends up feeling worse than ever. He tears up the letter and delivers one of the classic lines of American Literature: "All right, then, I'll go to hell!" He resolves to free Jim, again, expressing himself in an uptempo reprise of Waitin' for the Light to Shine.
After a series of plot turns, Tom shows up and decides to help Huck free Jim from his captors. They find him imprisoned in a tiny cell, and work quickly to free him. Huck and Tom get him out of the cell, and Jim declares that he is Free at Last, though conveying the knowledge that he understands that this may never truly be the case.
At the end of the play, Jim has decided to continue his trek to the North that he may buy his family out of slavery and Huck decides to move out West to escape any attempts to "civilize" him, they sit for a moment at the banks of the River. They recall their adventures together, and reflect, again, on the River in the Rain. Jim leaves Huck alone for the last time, and Huck decides, "It was like the fortune Jim predicted long ago: considerable trouble and considerable joy."
If you like the soundtrack to "Oh,Brother,Where art thou?", this is right up your alley. As far as singing ranges go.This show's main charractor is played by a charactor tenor.But,I wouldn't be suprised if some petite girl got the role.In the song "The Boys",you CAN hear a soprano 2,and it's normal to have a gal amongst the boys in the straight play productions of the story.
As for a petite gal in the main role,the singing is sort of hard. But,the part is more like Toby Ragg from "Sweeney Todd",exept without the classical edge(it's ok if you can't make sense of this sentince).
Here are some of the songs:
Act 1
Do You Wanna Go to Heaven — Company [Reminds me of "Pick-A-Little,Talk-A-Little",but not that fast.]
Looka here Huck, do you wanna go to heaven
Do you wanna go to heaven
Well I'll tell you right now
You better learn to read and you better learn your writin'
Or you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
You may think that the whole thing is silly
But it ain't silly really and I'll tell you right now
If you don't learn to read then you can't read your Bible
And you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
Looka here Huck, now you better think it over
Do ya wanna be a loafer like your pappy is now
You better learn to read and you better know your writin'
Or you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
Hey, hey do ya wanna go to heaven
Do ya wanna go to heaven
If you don't go to hell
Looka here Huck, do you wanna go to heaven
Do you wanna go to heaven
Well I'll tell you right now
You better learn to read and you better learn your writin'
Or you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
You may think that the whole thing is silly
But it isn't silly really and I'll tell you right now
If you don't learn to read then you can't read your Bible
You'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
Looka here Huck, now you better think it over
Do ya wanna be a loafer like your poppy is now
You better learn to read and you better learn your writin'
Or you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
Hey, hey ain't the situation concernin' education aggravatin' and how
Do you wanna go to heaven
Well you better get your lessons or you won't know how
Looka here Huck, do you wanna be a feller
Like a feller really ought to be
I'll tell you right now,
You better learn to read and you better learn your writin'
Or you'll never get to heaven cause you won't know how
The Boys — Tom Sawyer and The Gang[Listen to this track 1st if you want to say 'cool show'!]
If the bunch of us all stick together
And we all go down as one
We could be highway robbers
We could be killers just out to have fun
And if any of you can't keep a secret
We'll cut your throat if you tell
Then lay down 'neath six feet of ground
'Cause we were born to raise hell
All together now were the boys
All together forever and always
All together now we are the boys
We're together forever and always
If the bunch of us all, now listen,
'Cause here's the part I like the best
If we all got a hold of some horses
We could ride like the boys out West
We could hoot shoot, and we could holler
We could ride like the devil wind
Then go back to the cove and sleep all day
And do it the next night again
If the bunch of us all stick together
And we all go down as one
We could be highway robbers
We could be killers just out to have fun
And if the bunch of us all form a circle
And surround all the ladies of the town
I said hey, hey hey we'll take them to the cove
And dance them till they all fall down
Waitin' For The Light To Shine — Huck [Favorite song from the show.Hands down.]
Well, I have lived on undirected life
A cloudy way I know, the only way I knew
And so the thing I've done
In fact each and every one
Is the way that I was taught to run
Far beyond horizons I have seen
Beyond things I've been
Beyond the dreams I've dreamed
Are the things I've done
In fact each and every one
Are the way that I was taught to run
I'm waitin' for the light to shine
I am waitin' for the light to shine
I have lived in the darkness for so long
I'm waitin' for the light to shine
Guv'ment — Pap [On the original soundtrack,John Goodman played this role.Think of his voice singing Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monster's Inc.".That's what Pap sounds like.]
Well, you dad gum guv'ment
You sorry so and so's
You got your damn hands in every pocket
Of my clothes
Well you dad gum, dad gum, dad gum, guv'ment
Oh, don't I you know
Oh, don't you love 'em sometimes
You dad gum guv'ment
You better pay attention
You're sittin' up there like a fool's convention
Well, you dad gum, dad gum, dad gum guv'ment
Oh don't you know
Oh don't you love 'em sometimes
"Well, you soul sellin' no good sons-of-a dead pan shoe fittin' fire starters!I ought to tear your no good God dang
Preambulatory bone frame and nail it to your guv'ment walls"
All of you, you bastards!"
You dad gum guv'ment
You sorry rakafratchits
You got yourself an itch
And you want me to scratch it
Well, you dad gum, dad gum, dad gum guv'ment
Oh, don t you know
Oh don't you love 'em sometimes
You dad gum guv'ment
You sorry sons-of-bitches
You got your damn hands in every pocket of my britches
Well, you dad gum, dad gum, dad gum guv'ment
Oh don't you know, don't you love 'em sometimes
Hand For the Hog — Tom Sawyer [Favorite comic song...pure humor...]
Well, I always heard but I ain't too sure
That a man's best friend is a mangy cur
I kinda favor the hog myself
How about a hand for the hog
Ya say, a hog ain't nothin' but a porky thing
Little forked feet with a nosey ring
Pickle them feel folks
How about a hand for the hog
If you took a notion I'll bet
A good hog would moke a hell of a pet
You could teach him to ride and hunt
You could clean him up and let him sit up front
In the scheme of things the way things go
You might get bit by the old Fido
But not by the gentle, porker friend.
How about a hand for the hog
A feller and a hog had a comedy act
The feller was terrible as a matter of fact
That hog was o funny sucker though
How about a hand for the hog
If you took a notion
I'll bet you could teach a hog to smoke a cigarette
"Well,it might take a little bit of time
But hell, what's time to a hog?"
Well, the way I see it, it looks like this
Either you ain't or either you is
A true blue lover of the swine, folks
How about a hand for the hog
I, Huckleberry, Me — Huck [Coolist charractor song out there.]
I, Huckleberry, me
Somewhere sittin' underneath some tree
Somewhere maybe fishin'
Maybe someplace sittin' just wishin' I was fishin'
Oh, I, Huckleberry, me
Hereby declare myself to be
Nothin' ever other than
Exactly what I am
And I'll never change for no one
No matter what they say
If I want to smoke in church I'll smoke
If I want to pray I'll pray, oh
I, Huckleberry, me
Hereby declare myself to be
Nothin' ever other than
Exactly what I am
And I'll never change for no one
No matter what they say
If I want to go to school I'll go
If I want to stay away, I'll stay
Oh, I, Huckleberry, me
Hereby declare myself to be
Nothin' ever other than
Exactly what I am
Muddy Water — Jim and Huck[The #1 number.The one you pay to see.]
Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride
You can look for me when you see me comin'
I may be runnin' I don't know
I may be tired and runnin' fever
But I'll be headed south to the mouth of the Ohio
Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride
Well, I been down to the pain and sorrow
Of no tomorrows comin' in
But I put my pole to the river bottom
And I've got to hide some place and find myself again
Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride
Act 2
Worlds Apart — Jim and Huck[Saddest song in the whole show.]
JIM:
I see the same stars through my window
That you see through yours
But we're worlds apart
Worlds apart
And I see the same skies through brown eyes
That you see through blue
But we're worlds apart, worlds apart
Just like the earth, just like the sun
Two worlds together are better than one
I see the sun rise in your eyes
That you see in mine
But we're worlds apart, worlds apart
HUCK:
I see the same stars through my window
That you see through yours
But we're worlds apart, worlds apart
And you see the same skies through brown eyes
That I see through blue
But we're worlds apart, worlds apart
BOTH:
Just like the earth, just like the sun
Two worlds together are better than one
I see the friendship in you eyes
That you see in mine
But we're worlds apart, worlds apart
Together, but worlds apart
JIM:
And a mockingbird sings in an ol' yonder tree
Twaddle-ee ah dee dee dum dee dee dee
You Oughta Be Here With Me — Mary Jane Wilkes, Susan Wilkes and Joanna Wilkes [Very Allison Krauss-like]
If you think it's lonesome where you are tonight
Then you oughta be here with me
If you think there's heartaches where you are tonight
Then you oughta be here with me
If teardrops are falling where you are tonight
Then you oughta be here with me
Loneliness calling where you are tonight
Then you oughta be here with me
Because with you I'm whole, without you I'm cold
So if you think about me where you are tonight
Then you oughta be here with me
Leavin's Not The Only Way To Go — Mary Jane Wilkes, Jim and Huck [Other favorite.]
Did the morning come too early
Was the night not long enough
Does a tear of hesitation
Fall on everything you touch
Well, it might just be a lesson
For the hasty heart to know
Maybe leavin's not the only way to go
Maybe lay and let your feelings grow accustomed to the dark
Maybe morning's light, you just might solve the problems of the heart
And it all might be a lesson for the hasty heart to know
Maybe leavin's not the only way to go
People reach new understandings all the lime
They take a second look, maybe change their minds
People reach new understandings everyday
Tell me not to reach and I'll go away
And a heart without a home is such a lonesome row to hoe
Maybe leavin's not the only way to go
I hope you like what info I've given you.
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