Jennifer Leigh Warren sings "How Blessed We Are" from BIG RIVER

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 10:33am

I was fortunate enough to see her do this number three times on Broadway back in the '80s.

I wish more scenes or footage existed of the original cast. They were brilliant. And I think Roger Miller's score is vastly underrated, particularly his lyrics which served the Mark Twain source material so well.

But Jennifer was jaw-dropping doing this number. So slender and tiny on that stage, and then out comes this giant voice that rips your heart out.

How Blessed We Are

[JBSinger]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 12:25pm

Pretty brilliant. And I totally agree with your above statements on the quality of Big River. This song was always one of my favorites (and there are so many good songs).
PS - she was also one of the original Urchins in Little Shop of Horrors (off-bway). - but you probably knew that already.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 1:25pm

I would love to see a clip of Leavin's Not The Only Way To Go.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 7:23pm

So would I, Tazzy.

The summer I worked with Marin Mazzie, I got to sing that song in a cabaret show. She left our theatre not long after that to replace Patti Cohenour as Mary Jane Wilkes in the Broadway company of "Big River." And Marin got to sing that song (with Dan Jenkins and Ron Richardson).

So very cool.

I always thought that song could be a BIG country hit too. Get the right people to record it, and it could be magic.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 7:26pm

Wow! Having just finished "Huck Finn," I was in the mood for some Big River. I was going to give it a listen after I was done checking BWW... and low and behold, the first thread is a Big River one. This is fantastic. You know, I thought her voice (and name) sounded familiar, but I never would have thought she was one of the urchins from Little Shop.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 7:32pm

Yep. She was in the original "Little Shop."

I used to see Jen at Equity auditions in New York, back then. I met her a couple of times through Marin, as well. I wouldn't call her a "friend" by any means. An "aquaintance" from two decades ago, more likely. But I can tell you that I'm a huge fan!

There was nothing showy about her number in Big River. Her characer sings it at a funeral, after all. She just stood there on that stage, in a plain black dress... and devastated everybody in the theatre, night after night.

It was magic.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 11/13/08 at 7:51pm

Yeah, as much as I loved the sign language in the revival, there were times when I almost felt like it distracted from the music and the sort of message of the numbers.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 10:04am

Very nice! Thanks for posting that.