It is difficult for people in the Pacific Northwest to understand the complexities of race relations in southern states, where some would argue that the “War of Northern Aggression” had little to do with slavery but the fundamental rights of states to chart their own courses outside of federal interference.



Drive-by historians of the modern day can paint the Civil War and its causes in black and white terms, but people of the time didn’t see it solely as one about liberating those held in bondage from the fields where they toiled. Facts are never that clearly defined.



I am in no way saying that the racism of the Old South — or that of the New South — was acceptable or defensible. I’m just saying that the cause of that war went beyond slavery.



So it is with that frame of reference that I find myself talking about Big River, the seven-time Tony Award-winning musical based on the adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the character brought to life by Mark Twain and the subject of many films and shows about wayward boys and friendship ever since. The show is playing at Seattle’s Taproot Theatre Company through August and is worth a look just because it uses the dusk of slavery as its backdrop to look less at race relations and more about the complexities of friendship and sacrifice.



For anyone who fell asleep in American lit class back in high school, this is the story you slept through that deals with a white boy on the run with an escaping slave named Jim.



Big River features a talented cast of Robbie Fowler as Huck and Geoffery Simmons as Jim, plus Edd Key, Margaret Bicknell, Jenny Cross, Solomon Davis, Amy Berryman, Julie Smith, Faith Russell, Yasmin Ravard-Andresen, Mike Oliver, Ryan Childers, David Anthony Lewis, Bethany Russell, and Jonathan Moore.



What makes the show stand out is the effort the theater took in caring about the details instead of just making it a bubblegum musical of some great songs. It is a show that demands to be noticed because of its imagery. The sparse staging of rough-cut timbers and period pieces around the stage create the mood and allow audience members to fill in the rest so that the play runs its course just as much in the minds of the viewers as it does on the stage. That absorption draws audience members to think about themselves on that stage, during those times, and ponder what they would do if they were faced with the situation at hand for Huck and Jim.



Fowler plays the perfect Huck by successfully walking the line between being the character people have grown to love after watching Huck in film and stage shows and making the character his own by adding new dimensions and voice to the much-loved character.

And of course, anchoring the show is the role of Jim. Simmons owns the stage with his genuine portrayal of a man on the run for his life. He is one of those actors theatergoers in years to come will say “I remember him when .... and look at him now.” He is that good.



[Taproot Theatre, Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, through Aug. 9, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $26-$33, 204 N. 85th St., Seattle, 206.781. 9707, taproottheatre.org]