I asked Bill O'Brien, the Deaf West Theatre producer of Big River, re: the interpretation of "Waitin' For the Light To Shine (reprise)." I thought the meaning of the song is different when it's sung for the second time after Huck said "Alright I'll go to hell!" and I wanted to confirm it. Bill was kind enough to take a time and shared his insights. He agreed to share it on the web site, and I'm forever grateful for his generosity.

My question to Bill:
This is my interpretation and I'd like to know how the creative team has interpreted the scene: after Huck decides to go along with his heart, and run away from his society and his God, the meaning of the song "Waitin' For the Light To Shine (reprise)" is a lot different from the first time. The first time it was sung, Huck was really longing for the Light (God? structured life? saving grace, salvation?) -- coming out from the darkness. But at the reprise, determined to rescue Jim and go against society/God, he is singing that "this is how I have been living (against the societal expectation) and continue to live by choice (following my heart), although I really wanted to be saved by God" In other words, the meaning of the song is completely different. What is your interpretation? Am I totally out of line?!

The Director, Sign Masters and Ty wanted to focus on Huck's conflict between his heart and mind and how he matures during the course of the story and, for me, the way the two songs are interpreted are one of the most effective areas where this is revealed. The first time Huck sings/signs "Light to Shine" it is clear to me that Ty is signing it in a way that reflects the lack of deep meaning in his life and that he longs for some kind of inspiration that will help give him some direction. He's trying to conform to the rules that he has been taught, but has trouble following.

His situation is not very pleasant, but his conflicts are mostly on the surface. He is bored with school and his life with the strict widow and would like to find his own way in life that will make him happier. It relates to "finding God" or religion, but that seems mostly to be something that has been drummed into his head (as in the "Want to get to Heaven" number) and you get the sense that he might be just as happy to find a good fishing hole or horse to take him out to adventures in the Western Territory.

The second time he sings the song, the meaning is much more intense, as Huck has just made the biggest decision in his life, to reject God (or at least the way of God that had been instilled on him through what Twain calls "corrupt" teaching) in favor of helping Jim. In doing so, he believes that he will spend eternity being punished for something that he has been taught is "wrong" but that in his heart, he feels he has to do.

When we originally performed this number at Deaf West, Mark Twain interrupted the moment before the letter is tore up to say "In this crucial moral emergency....a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into conflict..and conscience suffers defeat". We found that quote in a letter that Mark Twain wrote to his editor to describe the book that he was still working on.

The way Ty signs the song and the way Danny sings the song the second time around, it's clear that the stakes are much higher. Now, rather than a bored young man asking for direction in life, it speaks from the heart of a highly focused young man who is in the process of committing a desperate act. He is repeating the fact that he has been living outside the boundaries of morality, but this time, it seems as though instead of asking for help to change his ways and to conform, he seems to be making an oath to continue on his own path and to reject the path that he is "supposed" to walk down no matter what the cost. He's still waiting for the "light to shine" but he now knows that it can't be the same light that everyone has been forcing down his throat. The signs are the same, and the words are the same, but the way Ty signs it and the way Danny sings it it becomes plain that the meaning of the song has obviously changed for Huck. It's a terrific example of how effective gesture and body language can be when communicating nuances in sign. When the reprise is being so effectively signed by Ty and sung by Danny, you can clearly see and hear the loud defiance that is being communicated by both actors.

Bill, thank you SO MUCH for taking your time to share your insights. Now if I can only see you as Mark Twain in Sacramento... ;-)



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