Big River

After getting to know the soundtracks of a few musicals, Rex and Lucy have both clearly chosen a favorite. It's Big River- one of my favorites too. One of the best parts about having kids is seeing how some things seem to just ignite something in their imaginations and set them spinning off into all kinds of fantasies and scenarios, and Big River has definitely done that for these kids. Macy doesn't love the music (too twangy?), so we take advantage to listen to it when it's just the three of us driving around. We've done that a few times and I always end up fielding all sorts of questions about the music and characters and plot. It's lots of fun to see how enthralled they can get.

One day we were listening to Huck singing "I have lived in the darkness for so long, I am waiting for the light to shine." Rex sat through the song thoughtfully and said "Dad, does he live in a world that's always dark?" I explained the metaphor of darkness and light and feeling lost in life and gaining guidance. He thought that was interesting. A few weeks later, he asked the same question, and when I launched into the same answer, he cut me off. "Oh yeah, sometimes we feel lost in our lives and we want someone to show us the way?" Yep.

Once he asked me what Jim looks like. I told him he's a big strong man with some rough clothes and dark skin. He said "Really? Oh. I was thinking it was our neighbor Jim." Our neighbor Jim is quite the opposite of Jim Huck's friend. He's older, kind of unimposing, and very Caucasian. It forced Rex to change some of his images when listening to Jim sing on the CD. The next day as we listened to the music again, he explained. "Dad, I thought Jim was our neighbor Jim. And I was thinking about how he was caught, and he needed someone to save him, and I ran through and fought two guards with guns and knocked them down and then saved him." Turns out Rex had an elaborate fantasy about bravely rescuing our over-60 neighbor from slavery, all within the world of Huckleberry Fin. I wish I could have seen the tape of that little daydream.

Their favorite song is the one about the boys forming a gang to do all kinds of mischief. They love the part about "hey hey hey we'll take em to the cave and dance em til they all fall down." That makes a great bedtime song, although it riles them up too much.

Anyway, when I saw that a Salt Lake Community College theater was doing Big River, I knew I had to take these guys. Turns out they don't allow anyone under five, so I sort of had to sneak Lucy in. Rex kind of caught on to our illicit scheme and winced every time we were near a theater employee the whole night, fearing criminal charges.

Every day leading up to the show, the kids both went out of their way to tell me how excited they were. Lucy especially couldn't contain her excitement. It was really cute. That night we headed off, made it past the scary employees and started the show. Lots and lots of questions the whole time. I was worried that all the adult dialogue in between the songs would bore them, but they stayed attentive the entire show. Neither could see from their seats though, so I ended up with both of them on my lap together almost the whole show. I loved how every time a song ended, the kids applauded really hard, without prompting. They were so interested in Jim's plight, and Huck's scary pappy, and Tom Sawyer's schemes, and the King and the Duke's half silly, half menacing schtick. Rex was unsettled on seeing the Duke covered in tar and feathers, but only because he thought it was Jim. When I told him it was the Duke, he was fine with it. Just desserts, i guess.

After we (sort of surprisingly) made it through almost two hours of the show, the climactic scene came up, where Huck and Tom go to steal Jim out of slavery. Just as they were slowly crawling up to the hut where Jim was en-caged, they stopped. Tom sat up and just stopped acting. Huck hung out there with him for a minute. Nothing happened. Jim stayed caught. Then a stage hand came out to whisper to Tom and Huck, followed by the stage manager. The kids were basically writhing with curiosity about what was happening with the show.

After another minute, a voice came over the PA and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, because of the injury, we will not be able to continue our production. Please contact the box office to work out a return visit." Then the lights came up. There was some surprised applause and then everyone got up and left. It was very strange to go from the dramatic climax to instantly leaving our seats, and the kids were so confused. Rex kept saying he reeeeally wanted to see the ending, and Lucy just said over and over that she wanted to see it again.

I actually called the theater the next day to find out what had happened, because Rex was dying to know. Turns out Tom had dislocated his knee while crawling on the stage. I grilled them a little about why the show couldn't go on, but it was all spilt milk. I reported my news to Rex and he just said again: "Man. I reeeeeally wish I could see that ending. Man."

He absorbed pretty much everything from the first showing though. As we walked out of the theater that night, he got a thoughtful look and said "Dad, Huck is kind of a hero to me." "Really, why?" I asked. "Because he just wants to save Jim." I was glad that he figured that out. They're still singing the songs.


(A few photos to reward the patient reader):

Dressups

Sprinklers