What Do Critics Think of the Encores! Revival of Big River?

Performances began February 8 for the Encores! production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Tony-winning musical based on Mark Twain’s classic American novel. The concert staging at New York City Center continues through February 12, starring The Color Purple’s Kyle Scatliffe as Jim and She Loves Me’s Nicholas Barasch as Huckleberry Finn.

Adapted from Twain’s celebrated novel, Big River features a book by William Hauptman, and a bluegrass, gospel, and honky tonk score by Roger Miller. The story follows Huckleberry Finn as he escapes down the river and encounters Jim, a runaway slave.

The Encores! production is directed by Lear deBessonet with musical direction by Encores! music director Rob Berman and choreography by Josh Rhodes.

See what critics thought of the production:

Deadline (Jeremy Gerard)
The New York Times (Laura Collins-Hughes)
Vulture (Jesse Green)

Playbill.com will continue to update with reviews as they come in.

Big River also stars Christopher Sieber as the Duke, Lauren Worsham as Mary Jane Wilkes, and David Pittu as The King. Completing the cast are Patrice Covington, Andrew Cristi, Wayne Duvall, Mike Evariste, Charlie Franklin, Annie Golden, Katherine A. Guy, Megan Masako Haley, Adrianna Hicks, Zachary Infante, Gizel Jimenez, Andrew Kruep, John-Michael Lyles, Cass Morgan, Tom Nelis, Tom Alan Robbins, and Horace V. Rogers.

“A musical underdog as scrappy and restless as Huck himself, Big River was created in the age of British spectacles by a quintessentially American artist—the beloved country-western singer Roger Miller,“ read Encores! production notes.

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