With all the heat and mugginess recently, this could be the Deep South, somewhere along the Mississippi River. That's the trip The Summer Theatre of New Canaan takes audiences on with Big River, a musical adaptation of Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, opening Saturday July 10 at the groups venue in Waveny Park. New Canaan native Christian Libonati stars as Huck, and Ellington, CT's Joshua W. Heggie co-stars as Jim.
The cast is a mix of local actors and professionals. Lisa Buccuzi, Lindsay Meyerson, Megan Meyerson, Anna Oxman, Kate Bodenheimer, Andrew Serkes, Ryan Stiffelman, Allie Potenza, Ashton Woerz, Whitney Woerz, Rachel Guth and Sean Peterson will also be representing the Summer Theatres hometown.
The play follows the plot of the novel, as the two friends travel down the Mississippi, eventually running into legendary con-artists the Duke (Lou Ursone) and the King (Drew Davidson). And its all set to a musical score by Roger Miller, featuring country, blues and gospel influences.
What interests me so much about this play is the sense of adventure, said Summer Theater artistic director Melody Libonati. We get to follow the travels of a young boy and learn what he learns Its so much about the lessons all of us learn while growing up and keep for our entire livesjust like any kid, really.
Big River runs Wednesday through Sunday nights from July 10 to August 1. All shows start at 7:45 p.m., in their tented, open-air theater at Waveny Park. For advance tickets, visit the Summer Theaters website.
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