It’s a good thing I’m an amateur blogger, and not a professional journalist – I’m so far behind schedule on this blog post that it’s borderline embarrassing. I could very easily have just skipped writing this post altogether to save myself from publicly admitting to having the world’s most finely honed procrastination skills. Yet, here I am, owning up to it – but not for nothing. I have something to write about which happens to be worth it: Playmaker’s Repertory Company’s recent production of Big River. Even if I wrote this the second I saw it, you wouldn’t have been able to get tickets anyway, as the production was sold out – for good reason.
It was great to see all the seats in the theater filled. It pains me so much to see houses sparsely populated when I know that there is meaningful and powerful theater to be seen (the recent touring production of Spring Awakening comes to mind – less than half the seats were sold; that’s a lot of lives which could have been affected, but weren’t). I’m so glad that so many people had the chance to see this production of Big River.
This was my first time seeing Big River. I knew about it, but only superficially: I knew it was the story of Huckleberry Finn and Jim, the runaway slave; I wasn’t familiar with the music, and I didn’t know the finer points of the plot. I’m glad that it was Playmakers Rep which provided my introduction to this Tony-winning musical. I saw their productions of Fences and Angels in America, which I thought were brilliantly done, and I was excited to see them do a musical. I was not disappointed!
In the lobby before the show, I was reading a book (which I highly recommend, by the way) called The Playwright’s Guidebook, and I happened to be reading a section about how actors talking directly to the audience often just doesn’t work when done for an extended amount of time. It was funny because Huck talks to the audience throughout the entirety of Big River. It reminded me that the magic of the musical is that it gives you permission to break all the rules.
Big River is a thought-provoking period piece that made me reflect on a dark spot in American history – slavery. I was quite moved by the character (and the absolutely enchanting singing voice) of Jim, and some of the things Huck said. The whole internal-but-spoken-aloud conflict Huck had about taking property, which was wrong, but that property happened to be his friend was troublesome for me. I cringed whenever he referred to Jim as property. I was moved and heartbroken by Jim’s dream of buying his own family out of slavery (which was more common than people realize). These troublesome elements made Huck’s narration to the audience all the more powerful, I think – we were able to see more of the picture that way. I loved how Playmaker’s Rep kept the set relatively minimal – I was amazed how much of the “feel” of a house can be conveyed by just a window. The basic set really allowed the story to shine and not be hampered by a more literal set. I found it a great canvas for effective theater.
So, even though you, my devoted readers, cannot go see Big River, I want to encourage everyone in (or near) the triangle to make it a priority to get to Playmakers Rep next season – I assure you, you won’t regret it.
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