As much as I try and see a variety of plays and musicals there are always going to be those shows I have as blind spots. Often they are great shows but just not performed often where I live in Utah. One of these shows was Big River, and I’m happy I have now been able to check it off of my musical theatre bucket list. While the new production at Ideal Playhouse is the youth edition, it’s a nice introduction to this landmark piece of musical theatre.

Of course, Big River is based on the classic novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. It’s a challenging novel to make into a musical because not that much actually happens in the story. There is a lot of tension especially for Jim but it’s mostly a dialogue-heavy story with them encountering various people as they travel down the Mississippi river. The musical even eliminates some elements such as the time spent with the feuding families that’s a larger chunk of the novel.

This minimalism is enhanced at Ideal Playhouse by them doing the Theatre for Young Audiences version, which is even shorter than the full Broadway version. I’ve never seen either so can’t speak to the differences but it definitely felt like the shortest version possible of this story.

Anyway, there is much to like in this community theatre production. Most notably the strong cast they have assembled. You couldn’t ask for better leads than we have with Yabosh Bonner as Jim and Stockton Palmer as Huck. I was also very impressed with Rosemary Jolicoeur-Webster as Alice (most of the days.) It’s a real treat to get to hear such talented actors sing “River in the Rain, “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine,” and “Free at Last.”

The show at Ideal is directed by Steve Anderson with tech director Dave Bates. They make the most out of their immersive stage elements with projections that stretch out into the audience space and give us thunder, lightning and rain as Jim and Huck make their journey on the river. They had some microphone issues on opening night and not everything went according to plan but I still enjoyed it.

According to Concord Theatricals there is only one other version of Big River currently happening in the US (youth or regular.) It’s just not a show performed very often for whatever reason. Now is your chance to see it at Ideal, and even though it is the shortened version it is worthy of your time and effort to get out to Heber. It wasn’t perfect but I’m glad I made the drive. It is playing through October 11th and tickets can be purchased here.

Big River has music and lyrics by Roger Miller with a book by William Hauptman based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn novel by Mark Twain.

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