O.C. STAGE REVIEWS : Taking 2 Different Voyages Down ‘Big River’ : The Fullerton Civic Light Opera steers its production toward the rougher rapids of William Hauptmann’s darkly tinged book.

Put aside the British bonanzas and Stephen Sondheim, and musical pickings in the last decade become so slim that there’s only one other real choice. In two words, it’s “Big River,” the jaunty, sprawling Roger Miller/William Hauptmann adaptation of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Nearly seven years after it first appeared at the La Jolla Playhouse (en route to Broadway and several Tonys), “Big River” appears set for long-term endurance.

Take, for example, the handsome Fullerton Civic Light Opera production at Plummer Auditorium. Sticking quite close to Des McAnuff’s original staging--with the strong, evocative exception of romantic Mississippi backdrop paintings by set designer Charles Kading--director/choreographer Kirby Ward has steered his show toward the rougher rapids of Hauptmann’s darkly tinged book.

Now, wags would say that Ward should do no less. After all, what distinguishes Hauptmann’s condensing of Twain’s adventurously dense adventure is the playwright’s determination to preserve “Huckleberry Finn’s” complex web of bildungsroman , racial drama, yarn-telling and American tragicomedy. Rather than cheapen this classic of lost boyhood, slavery and the frontier, Hauptmann reaffirms “Huckleberry Finn’s” status as likely holder of the Great American Novel prize.

What could throw a suburban revival off course is Miller’s deceptively light-sounding music. Catchy tunes such as “Do Ya Wanna Go to Heaven?” or “I, Huckleberry, Me” might suggest to a director that an easy-listening mode is the best way to slip in Twain’s/Hauptmann’s deeper points.

But Miller’s still-fresh score, interweaving the white man’s country with the black man’s blues, and balanced by his lyrics’ clever wordplay, is just what makes “Big River” rise above today’s standard, over-hyped mega-shows.

Ward has made sure to pick a cast, though, that doesn’t merely ape the Broadway edition but brings something of its own. Christian Hoff’s Huck, while thin in the vocal department (made thinner by the Plummer’s unreliable miking), stresses his scruffy side and the struggle toward an early adulthood. Charles McCowan compensates for a very, very straight and noble reading of escaping slave Jim with a sonorous vocal power. Joe Fletcher makes less of that conniving, ultra-theatrical creation, the Duke, than one hopes for, but as the Duke’s partner in duplicity, E. E. Bell takes command as the King.

Darcie Roberts as Mary Jane Wilkes must guard against inserting pop inflections, especially in “Leaving’s Not the Only Way to Go,” but Clarke Thorell’s wonderfully spunky Tom Sawyer deserves to be heard beyond Fullerton. So does musical director Todd Helm’s band (dressed in their best hillbilly togs), augmented by some rollicking plucking from the River Rats harmonica/fiddle/guitar trio. Even with a rather rambling length (correctable) and some uncooperative stage machinery (just as correctable), this is chummy show, with the Rats fiddling their hearts out in the Plummer lobby during intermission. Even at three hours, you don’t mind sittin’ a spell.

‘BIG RIVER’

A Fullerton Civic Light Opera production of the Roger Miller/William Hauptmann musical. Directed and choreographed by Kirby Ward. With Griff Duncan, Christian Hoff, Charles McCowan, Jan Duncan, Pat Stepken, Clarke Thorell, David Burnham, Lesley Torresen, Randyl Appel, John Bisom, B.W. Wiff, Glen Veteto, Cathy Cagle, Reginald Guidry, Roslyn Holloway, Kenny Lee, Roberto Mason, Marahscalh Stanton, Glenn Freeze, E. E. Bell, Joe Fletcher, Darcie Roberts, Flynn Roberts. Musical director and conductor: Todd Helm. Sets by Charles Kading. Lighting by Donna Ruzika. Plays Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; June 2, 2:30 p.m. Ends June 2. Plummer Auditorium, 218 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. Tickets: $12 to $23. (714) 879-1732.