Big River

[The3DImaxOfMyMind]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 4:32pm

My cousin who is thirteen is auditioning for Big River. People said to try out for Jo Harper/Joanna Wilkes. Could you please give me a description that I can give to her? Thanks in advance.

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 4:39pm

Well, Jo Harper is a boy. And Joanna Wilkes is a girl. Those are two definitely different parts.

If I remember correctly, Jo is one of Tom's friends -- nothing too fantastic, but he's got a couple of funny lines in the cave scene, and he might have a solo lyric or two in "We Are The Boys." In the production I did (where we did age-appropriate casting), Jo/Ben/Dick were all around 9-13. He could be played by a tomboy-ish girl, but that's up to the director.

Joanna is older, though -- she's Mary Jane's sister, and she's generally 16-20, depending on how the rest of your cast looks. She has this incredibly difficult harmony with Mary Jane on "You Ought To Be Here With Me" -- I remember the girls who played Joanna was going crazy trying to learn it.

[The3DImaxOfMyMind]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 4:54pm

I was looking on ibdb.com and Jo and Joanna were both played by the same person. Thank you so much. I'm glad I could give her information on the parts. Would anyother parts be good for her?

[Songsstresss]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 5:37pm

Jo Harper and Joanna are played by the same actress. Yes, the actress dresses as a boy as Jo Harper and is in all the "boy's" stuff in the first act. Then she plays Joanna Wilkes in the second act scenes. The role(s) demands a solid mid-range voice and depending on the director/choreographer, a decent dancer for "The Boys" number.