Toe-Tappin’, Knee-Slappin’ Misadventures Take Stage with the OLRC

Mark Twain’s classic novel “Huckleberry Finn” is brought to life in “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” part of the Old Lyric Repertory Company’s 2012 season.
           
“This is one of my favorite musicals of all time,” said Dennis Hassan, artistic director of the OLRC and professor in the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. “The music ranges from hilarious blue-grass numbers to intensely moving spirituals, all combined with musical theater tunes.”
           
Set to the distinctly American music of country singer-songwriter Roger Miller, “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a toe-tappin’ knee-slappin’ adventure, said Denise Albiston, director of marketing and public relations for the CCA.
           
“Big River” opens June 28 and continues June 29-30 and then selected dates through Aug. 8. Curtain is 7:30 p.m. with select matinee performances at 2 p.m., including a matinee June 30. The full schedule is online (http://arts.usu.edu/lyric/htm/schedule).
           
“This show is an epic journey that will change you,” said Stefan Espinosa, who plays Huckleberry Finn. “No one will leave the theater the same person they were when they entered.”
           
Huck, an uneducated, backwoods boy, innocent in many ways, tells this story, said Espinosa. This show asks the audience to personally assess each individual moral compass and define right and wrong for each.
           
Espinosa returns to the OLRC for his second season, appearing last year as Seymour Krelborn in “Little Shop of Horrors,” as well as in “Amadeus” and “See How They Run.”
           
Long time OLRC audiences will remember Lego Lewis who returns to the company this year and is first seen as Jim in “Big River.”
           
A USU graduate, Lewis has extensive credits, including a national tour of “The King and I” where he logged more than 500 performances. With the OLRC, he also appears in “Lend Me a Tenor” this season.
           
The 2012 OLRC season  also includes “Steel Magnolias,” “Private Lives,” “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Greater Tuna,” and “Charlotte’s Web.” Each show runs on selected dates June through August and is performed in the Caine Lyric Theatre, located at 28 West Center Street.
           
Tickets for OLRC productions can be purchased by visiting the Caine College of the Arts Box Office at Utah State University in room 139-B of the Chase Fine Arts Center open 10 a.m.­-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling 435-797-8022 or online at the Caine College of the Arts website (arts.usu.edu). Tickets are also available at the Caine Lyric Theatre, from noon-4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and an hour prior to curtain on show nights. Individual ticket prices range from $18-$25 for adults, $15-$21 for seniors and USU faculty and staff and $12-$18 for USU students and youth.
           
For more information on the OLRC’s 2012 season is available at the OLRC website (arts.usu.edu/lyric).