www.lethbridgemusicaltheatre.ca

AUDITIONS
March 26-28, 2009
Thurs & Fri at 6pm and  Sat at 10am
St. Augustines Church (411 - 11 Street S)

See LMT website for Requirements for audition
www.lethbridgemusicaltheatre.ca/auditions.php

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Act One

In pre-Civil War Missouri near St. Petersburg, Huckleberry Finn, "Widder" Douglas, Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, and Huck's best friend Tom Sawyer inform Huck that he needs to learn to read and write and read the Bible if he ever hopes to go to Heaven ("Do Ya Wanna Go To Heaven?"). Exasperated with the constraints on his daily life, Huck escapes his bedtime and steals to the hideout of Tom. In the cave, the two and a bunch of their friends sing of all the escapades they'll perpetrate on their way to the bad place (The Boys").

After expressing his wish to escape his hometown ("Waitin' For the Light To Shine"), Huck returns home in the darkness to find his Pap waiting for him, who drags him off to his cabin in the woods. In his drunkenness, Pap swings from tomfoolery to extreme violence as he rails against a government that would take his son from him ("Guv'ment"). He attempts to kill Huck, but passes out in an inebriated mess. Huck, grabbing the chance to escape, kills a pig and scatters the blood and gore around the cabin in an effort to make it appear as if he's been murdered. Huck is being quickly forced to grow up, while Tom attempts to remain a boy ("Hand For the Hog").

Alone on Jackson's Island, Huck asserts his self-assurance ("I, Huckleberry, Me") But Huck isn't alone; Miss Watson's slave, Jim, is there as well. He has run away to avoid being sold down the River to New Orleans. Huck offers to help Jim reach freedom in the North. A posse is after Jim: with only moments to spare, they find a raft and get it afloat in the of the mighty Mississippi River ("Muddy Water").

Jim and Huck travel only at night and don't get far from Jackson's Island before they are reminded of the seriousness of their actions: a boat carrying runaway slaves back to their masters passes them in the night ("The Crossing"). The days are long as the two forge their way down the river. As they sing of the beauty of the River ("River In the Rain") in a fog, they sail past the mouth of the Ohio — their path to freedom. Soon they are set upon by the King and the Duke — two con artists who commandeer the small raft as they escape the latest mob on their tail. For many of the same reasons Huck is drawn to Tom, he is intrigued by the delinquent "royals". The King and the Duke agree to sell Jim back into slavery for their own profit, unbeknownst to Huck ("When the Sun Goes Down In the South").

Act Two

Huck, the Duke, and the King wash ashore in Bicktown, Arkansas, and attempt to fleece the rubes they find. The Duke and King come up with a scheme to make money ("The Royal Nonesuch"), tricking the townspeople. By the end of the evening, Huck can appreciate a new way of life — the three are now several hundred dollars richer. When he returns to the raft, Huck plays a horrible trick on Jim by assuming the guise of a slave hunter. Unamused, Jim rebukes Huck for the first time. After some thought, Huck realizes that Jim, though a slave, is still a human being and deserves an apology ("Worlds Apart").

The King and Duke reappear to dragoon Huck into their next escapade. While Jim is, again, left alone with the raft, the three encounter a young fool on a dock, singing of his love of his home state ("Arkansas"). Through no fault of his own, he tells the conmen everything they need to know about a fortune to be inherited in the Wilkes family, and they crash the funeral as impostors to go about securing their riches ("How Blest We Are"). Huck — through it all a pure soul — sees that the beautiful and innocent Mary Jane Wilkes is being robbed of her rightful inheritance by these "rapscallions", and steals back her money from the King and the Duke as she mourns her father's coffin ("You Oughta Be Here With Me"). He quickly stuffs the gold into her father's coffin and hides behind it to avoid notice.

When Mary Jane realizes what Huck has done, she asks that he remain with her and become her friend. For the first time in his life, he is moved by the actions of another ("Leavin's Not the Only Way To Go"), yet he realizes that he has made a promise to Jim: one that transcends mere friendship. Huck returns again to the raft and finds the Duke tarred and feathered: he has sold Jim back into slavery for a mere forty dollars. Feeling guilty about what he has done, Huck pens a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where she can find the runaway Jim. After a momentary reprieve, Huck ends up feeling worse than ever. He tears up the letter and resolves to free Jim again, even if it means he will go to Hell ("Waiting For the Light To Shine" (Reprise)).

Tom arrives, after visiting his Aunt and Uncle Phelps, and decides to help Huck free Jim from his captors. They find him imprisoned in a tiny cell and work quickly to free him as he laments his desire to be free ("Free At Last"). As they free Jim, Tom is shot in the leg. Jim decides to continue his trek to the North so that he may buy his family out of slavery, and Huck decides to move West to escape any attempts to "civilize" him. They sit for a moment at the banks of the river, recalling their adventures together ("River In the Rain" (Reprise)). Jim leaves Huck alone for the last time, and Huck decides, "It was like the fortune Jim predicted long ago: considerable trouble and considerable joy."

The cast all assemble for curtain call and the reprise of "Muddy Water".

Song list

Act I Overture — Big River Orchestra Do You Wanna Go to Heaven — Company The Boys — Tom Sawyer and The Gang Waitin' for the Light to Shine — Huck Guv'ment — Pap Hand For the Hog — Tom Sawyer (this number was cut for the revival) I, Huckleberry, Me — Huck Muddy Water — Jim and Huck The Crossing — Slaves and Overseer River in the Rain — Huck and Jim When the Sun Goes Down in the South — Duke, King and Huck

Act II Ent'racte — Big River Orchestra The Royal Nonesuch — Duke and Company Worlds Apart — Jim and Huck Arkansas — A Young Fool How Blest We Are — Alice's Daughter and Company You Oughta Be Here With Me — Mary Jane Wilkes, Susan Wilkes and Joanna Wilkes How Blest We Are (Reprise) — Company Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go — Mary Jane Wilkes, Jim and Huck Waitin' for the Light to Shine (Reprise) — Huck Free At Last — Jim River in the Rain (Reprise) — Huck and Jim Muddy Water (Reprise) — Company