The story revolves around young Tom Sawyer, a boy who prefers fun with Huck Finn over school, and who is about to prefer schoolmate Becky Thatcher over just about anything. Even dead mice. But his relatively footloose life is about to get threatened when he witnesses a murder by Injun Joe, and only his testimony may save an innocent man from hanging for it.

Cory Creswell is a likeable Tom Sawyer who teams up well with Trevor Davis as Huck Finn, combining for a troublemaking duo skipping school, playing with spiders and snakes, and never knowing their prayers. He does especially well leading the Gratification number as he convinces the other boys in town that painting a fence is great fun. The twosome becomes a great threesome with talented Tyler Tafolla as Joe Harper, the three of them combining naturally for the River Song and Freebootin. All three are complete opposites from the nerdy, brown-nosing Sid, with Dylan Hyde as the little brat who pretty much deserves what he gets. Like when Tom asks Becky if she likes dead mice. She doesn’t, Tom chucks it over his shoulder, Huck catches it and, not wanting to waste it, slips it down the back of Sid’s shirt.

Other strong performances are many in this group. Heather Banks is a delightful Becky Thatcher who easily charms Tom and the audience, and nails the vocals. The versatile Sarah De La Isla is Aunt Polly, nailing her accent and both the humor and maturity of her character as the new guardian of Tom who really has her work cut out for her. Laura Hopkins is diverting as the Widow Douglas who has her own hands full with Huck. Paul Gillcrist gives a terrific performance as the drunken Muff Potter who can be both amusing and frightened. Jonathan White has a great preaching style, Brittany Wolfe is sweet as Polly’s daughter Mary, and Russell Clements is the anti-thesis of sweet as Injun Joe. The ensemble of energetic school kids and old, complaining biddies do nice work, including a dance off against each other at the 4^th of July party. Extra kudos to one quick-thinking classmate: after Becky’s apple just barely rolled off the tip of the stage, a girl behind her quickly tossed her own apple onto the stage, allowing Tom to befriend Becky and getting an appreciative laugh from the audience.

The sets are good, including a cool cave set where the climactic scene with Injun Joe takes place, although that scene seems sort of rushed, perhaps to make it less heavy for the younger audience members. Sarah Anderson’s choreography is fun and uplifting. And Director Linda Wolfe has assembled a great group of actors and dancers, while throwing in some nice humorous touches including the catching of Injun Joe’s flung knife in a Bible.

Performs May 15 - 23, 2009

Rob Hopper
National Youth Theatre