Twain Tracks

What could be more perfect on a summer evening than a big, sprawling musical featuring larger-than-life characters and a message to match? Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which opened July 14 on the Arvada Center Main Stage, promises to sweep away audiences of all ages for a few hours of escapism that come full circle with Mark Twain’s morality.

Director Stephen Bourneuf thinks it’s important to understand Twain in order to follow the spirit of the story. “Mark Twain set out to write a simple ‘boy’s book’ in a light, comic tone that would take Huck from one escapade to another,” he writes in his production notes. “What he ended up with was a boy’s exciting, unpredictable journey along the Mississippi Valley searching for freedom from so-called ‘respectable’ ways; the very complexities of society that Twain wrestled to make sense of his whole life.”

Big River will be presented nightly (except Mondays) through August 9; admission is $27 (preview) to $55 for adults and half-price for children. The Arvada Center is located at 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard; for reservations and more information about family nights and other special events, go to www.arvadacenter.org or call 720-898-7200.
Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1 & 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: July 14. Continues through Aug. 9, 2009