Big River (musical)

Big River
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Original Cast Recording
Music	Roger Miller
Lyrics	Roger Miller
Book	William Hauptman
Basis	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, novel by Mark Twain
Productions	1985 Broadway 2003 Broadway revival 2004 US Tour 2008 East Haddam, Connecticut
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Book Tony Award for Best Score

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a musical with a book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller.

Based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it features music in the bluegrass and country styles in keeping with the setting of the novel. The 1985 Broadway production ran for more than 1,000 performances and it remained one of the few very successful American musicals in the mid-1980s among the emerging successes coming from Great Britain.

The first productions were staged by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1984 and at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, from June through July 1984.

The Broadway production, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Janet Watson, opened on April 25, 1985, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, and closed on September 20, 1987, running for 1,005 performances. The cast featured René Auberjonois as The Duke, Bob Gunton as The King, John Goodman as Pap Finn, Daniel H. Jenkins as Huckleberry Finn, Ron Richardson as Jim, with Susan Browning, Gordon Connell as Mark Twain, Patti Cohenour, Jennifer Leigh Warren as Alice's Daughter and John Short.