Price, Smith Star in BIG RIVER Revival at Cumberland County Playhouse

Austin Price and Horace Smith star as Cumberland County Playhouse brings one of the most popular-and most frequently requested-titles its almost 50-year history back to the with an exciting new production of Big River, directed by BWW Nashville Theatre Awards winner Britt Hancock. Big River runs through November 2 in Crossville.

Mark Twain's timeless classic sweeps audiences down the mighty Mississippi River, where the irrepressible Huck Finn, escaping from his drunken father, meets up with Jim, a runaway slave. The story of their journey downstream is an American classic that captures the idyllic pleasures and unacknowledged injustices of life on the big river in the 1840s. Propelled by a Tony Award-winning score from country music legend Roger Miller, Big River's journey provides a theatrical celebration of pure Americana.

This new production of the timeless musical stars Austin Price (All Shook Up, Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge) as Huck and Horace Smith (Five Guys Named Moe) as Jim. Co-starring with Price and Smith are Douglas Waterbury-Tieman as Tom Sawyer, Weslie Webster as Widow Douglas, Daniel Black as Pap Finn and Tommy Hancock as Mark Twain. Britt Hancock and Jason Ross reprise their roles as The King and The Duke.

Also appearing in this resident company production are Carly Amburn, Porter Anderson, Anna Baker, Colin Cahill, Quinn Cason, John Dobbratz, Donald Frison, Dee Hill, Patty Payne, Lauren Marshall, Greg Pendzick, Lindy Pendzick, Michael Ruff, Chaz Sanders and Emily Woods.

Britt Hancock directs the production, with musical direction by Ron Murphy and choreography by Leila Nelson. 

 Currently running at The Playhouse: the biographical Ginger Rogers musical Backwards in High Heels through November 2; the bluegrass musical comedy Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge through October 26; and the high energy party of song and dance Five Guys Named Moe  through October 27. Upcoming events:  A Sanders Family Christmas opens November 1; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, whichopens on November 16.

For tickets and further information, go to www.ccplayhouse.com or call (931) 484-5000

Pictured: Austin Price and Horace Smith/photo by Sam Hahn

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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