By Steve Sailer
02/11/2017
From the New York Times, a review of the revival of the 1985 Tony Award-winning musical Big River, which is based on Mark Twainâs Huckleberry Finn:
Review: A New âBig River,â Endearing but Ill TimedBy LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES FEB. 9, 2017
⌠But âBig Riverâ feels like an awkward fit for this moment.
⌠Itâs because of the cultural conversation weâve been having lately about the role of black artists, and women too.
Have you noticed how the once innocent word âconversationâ has recently taken on Stalinist connotations of indoctrination and censorship.
Expectations have changed.It is hard, in a way that it wasnât in 1985 â or even in 2003, when Deaf West Theater brought its stunning revival to Broadway â to watch a story thatâs framed as the tale of Huck and Jim without being bothered by how sidelined Jim is, and how very white and male anyone who has a substantial role is: Huck, the con men, Tom Sawyer (Charlie Franklin).
Only an all-black cast would be diverse enough for 2017
⌠In this cast of 22, black characters other than Jim are mostly in the background.
Okay, but the musical is based on a novel entitled Huckleberry Finn, which was a sequel to Tom Sawyer, and Jim is the main character not named Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer in the book Huckleberry Finn.
But as the Oscars found, once you go black you can never go back.
Katherine A. Guy, in her professional stage debut, does set off some welcome vocal fireworks in âHow Blest We Are,â playing a slave named Aliceâs Daughter, but that solo is really all she gets to do.Even with the warm rapport between Mr. Barasch and Mr. Scatliffe, and the gorgeous blending of their voices in âMuddy Waterâ and âRiver in the Rain,â this is ultimately the story of a white boy waking up to injustice, then painting himself as a hero.
White boys ⌠they must be dealt with.
Iâm not arguing for rewriting Twain or for consigning âBig Riverâ to the scrap heap.
Oh, really?
But especially right now, with the United States plumbing its own soul over questions of privilege and belonging, the show doesnât seem to have a great deal to add.
Who let Mark Twain be part of the National Conversation?