Big River

The other day, I was writing about John Goodman and talked here about him in the musical Big River, based on Huckleberry Finn, which I'd driven down to San Diego to see with my friend Adam Bezark in its pre-Broadway tryout at the La Jolla Playhouse.  The show had with a score by the great country music legend Roger Miller, and I embedded audio of Goodman's song as Pap Finn, "Guv'ment," but thought it would be nice to show a bit of the musical.

This is from the 1985 Tony Awards, when Big River won Best Musical.  It's a medley of two of the better songs, "Muddy Water" and "River in the Rain," both song by Daniel Jenkins as Huck, and Ron Richardson as Jim.  I always liked the staging of the river and how they blended the raft into it, and you'll get a sense of that here.

Worth noting is that the company joins them for a reprise at the end, and as the camera pans, you'll be able to spot newcomer John Goodman, as he's starting his career.  It comes at the 4:21 mark -- you'll see an actor playing Mark Twain, dressed all in his white panama suit, and three people to his left (your right) is Goodman.

But let's head down to the waterfront as Huck and Jim have to rush to get away...