Theatre Register
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Big River

Shows · Big River

Set in 1849, with the action taking place both on the Mississippi River and in various locations along its banks (thanks to Heidi Landesman’s atmospheric settings), the imaginative and faithfully conceived adaptation of the picaresque novel is concerned primarily with the relationship between Huck Finn and the runaway slave Jim (Daniel H. Jenkins and Ron Richardson) as they enjoy the untethered life traveling on a ra…

Opened
1985
Performances
1,005
Type
Musical
Era
Megamusical
Music: Roger MillerLyrics: Roger MillerBook: William Hauptman

Productions2 on Broadway

1985 Eugene O'Neill Theatre Original. April 25, 1985 · Des McAnuff 1,005 performances · 1 Tony wins
2003 Revival Theatre not recorded. July 24, 2003 67 performances · 1 Tony wins

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Recordings 1 album held

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature28 passages

Broadway Musicals Show by Show is a combination history, guide, fact book, and photograph album of the most memorable productions presented both on and off Broadway from The Black Crook in 1866 to Big River in 1985. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p7

In 1985, a musical called Big River based on Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn opened and won the following Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Book (William Hauptman), Best Score (Roger Miller), Best Direction (Des McAnuff), Best Featured Actor (Ron Richardson), Best Scenic Design (Heidi Landesman), and Best… book:at-this-theatre-100-years-of-broadway-shows-stories-and-botto-louis-viagas-rober#p229

For every year of its long run, Big River hosted a jumping-frog contest outside its theater under the auspices of publicist Adrian Bryan-Brown. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p535

When he died at the age of 79, he was working on a musical version of Huckleberry Finn, even though the musical Big River had opened and won the Tony Award. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p309

other musical roles include The Duke in Big River (1985) book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p59

Big River came at the end of a disappointing Broadway season and brought sufficient charms to run for about two and a half years. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p69

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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