Big River

At best, Big River bears the same relationship to Mark Twain as Oliver! to Charles Dickens, but Apple Tree's recent production emphasized the story -- as much out of despair at staging big song-and-dance numbers in a tiny mallfront space as out of literary reverence (though the density of both Roger Miller's score and William Hauptman's text tend to discourage extended spectacles that could stretch the running time to Wagnerian lengths.) Marriott's audiences want Musicals, however; so its staging is focused on showcasing vocal talent, often compromising plot, period and plausibility in the process. (Miller's down-home ditties are given the full Nashville treatment, for example, and in one scene, a close escape from a remote island is delayed so the fugitives can stand still for their Big Number.) 

Granted, the vocal talent is first-rate -- Jeff Juday even manages to inject some acting into his portrayal of Huckleberry Finn, while Derek J. Alexander and local favorites Felicia Fields, James Harms, Don Forston and Iris Lieberman pipe away with professional panache (unfortunately, the miscast Ian Brennan not only looks much too old to make a believable Tom Sawyer but spits forth Miller's playful scat-doggerel with the aggressiveness of a punk-rocker). 

So though the frequency of muffed lines on opening night sometimes gave the impression that the cast had studied their sheet music but not their scripts -- don't even mention reading the novel -- there's no denying the high quality and entertainment of the concert.