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| Jens Rasmussen as the Duke in Big River |
Springer Opera House Artistic Director Paul Pierce is well aware of the controversy around Mark Twain’s classic tales of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. And so are cast members of the musical “Big River” which is based on Twain’s book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The production comes to the Springer stage tonight.
Much of the controversy surrounds the use of derogatory and offensive terms used to refer to Jim, the slave that Huck befriends. Jim is a runaway slave who joins Huck on his adventures.
“You have to remember this is not Mark Twain talking,” Pierce said about the language.
“This is Huckleberry Finn. Twain takes an ignorant child and plops him on a raft with a runaway slave.”
Jens Rasmussen, who plays several roles in the musical, admits some of the language is “a little rough.” But he hopes the audience takes the derogatory terms in the context in which they were written.
And 20 years ago, when Pierce was entering his first full season at the Springer, “Big River” was the season opener. Pierce had already faced controversy when he consolidated various boards of directors and hired professional actors.
When the late Madison Rivers Jackson, who was hired to play the role of Jim, arrived in Columbus, he was met with picketers in front of the theater.
Eventually, the protesters came around, many of them reappearing on the Springer stage. Pierce became a fixture in Columbus theater. And Jackson went from being a pariah to a well-loved regular on the stage before his death in 1996.
It’s different this time
Pierce is 20 years older, and he’s viewing the work differently now than he did that first year.
“It’s almost like I’m looking at it for the first time,” he said.
“Jens and I have been reading ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ during rehearsal. Some of the stuff we’re struck with is how faithful it is to the book. And how Roger Miller’s music amplifies the script.
“I’m in awe of the script. Day after day, I see multiple layers,” Pierce said. “That’s what I don’t remember. I see it very differently this time. What’s become clear to me is how enduring this literature is.”
In the end, Pierce says “Big River” is a boy’s adventure.
He’s also struck by how “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has become an allegory for America, including the “horror of our history and all of the wonder and the beauty of our history.”
The audience will learn about the Civil War, the relationship between a young boy and girl, a slave and a boy, water and land, right and wrong, light and dark and society vs. individualism.
A new Jim ... and Huck
Keith Patrick McCoy, originally from Portsmouth, Va., met with Pierce and associate artistic director Ron Anderson at a national theater audition in Memphis.
He’s done the role of Jim twice before. In fact, he loves the part so much that he actually seeks out the role.
“I always approach it differently,” McCoy said.
The first time, in 2003, he played Jim as a victim. In 2007, he played him as a rebel. This time, he blends the two approaches.
And he says there’s always a different director and a different Huck.
He really likes the chemistry between his character and Mike Morin’s Huck.
Morin, from Marietta, graduated last year from Shorter College in Rome. He met the Springer staff at the Southeastern Theater Conference auditions in Charlotte last year.
It was his first big audition and it was the final one of the day.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better ending,” he said.
“I saw three Hucks that day,” Pierce said. “It was clear Mike was Huck.”
The Duke and the King
One of the characters Rasmussen plays is the Duke, a conman.
“It’s great fun,” he said. “The Duke and the King (played by Brian Pecci) are the most fascinating characters. It’s so interesting that you never find out about their pasts. You only know what Huck knows.”
But he said what people do know is that Missouri was part of the Western Territories and a lot of people moved west to reinvent themselves.
“It’s a great American story,” he said.
Rasmussen slyly said many people may recognize the Duke and the King from the movie, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”
“These guys are the original dirty rotten scoundrels.”
By Sandra Okamoto - sokamoto@ledger-enquirer.com --
