Coming Up: 'Big River' Musical at Nyack High School

Those taht missed the opening weekend showing of Nyack High School's Big River can catch it this weekend.

The nationally-recognized Nyack High School Drama Club takes a lazy trip on the Mississippi River and goes back to a slower time as it performs the Tony Award-winning musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Spring 2013 on stage at Nyack High School.

Adapted from Mark Twain’s 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Big River features music and lyrics by Roger Miller and is based on the book by William Hauptman.

On Broadway, Big River opened on April 25, 1985, and ran for more than 1,000 performances at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and won seven Tony Awards in 1985 – including Best Musical. A Broadway revival in 2003 ran for 67 performances and in 2004 the show won another Tony for Excellence in Theatre.

The show is a version of Twain’s classic story of young Huck Finn, who is repressed by middle-class life by Miss Watson, and he has to escape from his brutal father. He takes off on a raft down the Mississippi along with runaway slave Jim and begins adventures that lead to life lessons for both of them. Huck learns that slaves are people with feelings and that to be human is to want to be treated with dignity.

The Nyack High School Drama Club, led by acclaimed director and set designer Joseph J. Egan, is scheduled to perform Big River on the stage at Nyack High School on March 15 and 16 at 8 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee show on March 24.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 students, senior citizens free, and are available at the door. Nyack High School is located at 360 Christian Herald Road, Upper Nyack.

About the Drama Club

Nyack High School’s Drama Club is an extra-curricular activity that offers students an opportunity to be Actors, Singers, Dancers, Assistant Directors/Producers, Sound and Light Technicians, Set and Costume Designers, Scenic Painters, Prop Designers, Stagehands and Musicians. Each year the Drama Club presents three productions: Fall Drama or Comedy, Spring Musical and Spring One Acts.

Some of the club’s most-acclaimed productions include: April 2008 – Phantom of the Opera;  March 2007 – Titanic; and,  March 2006 – Cats.