[1] The first productions were staged by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1984[2] and at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, from June through July 1984.

[3] The Broadway production, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Janet Watson, opened on April 25, 1985 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, and closed on September 20, 1987, running for 1,005 performances.

The cast featured René Auberjonois as The Duke, Bob Gunton as The King, John Goodman as Pap Finn, Daniel H. Jenkins as Huckleberry Finn, Ron Richardson as Jim, with Susan Browning, Gordon Connell as Mark Twain, Patti Cohenour, Jennifer Leigh Warren as Alice's Daughter and John Short.

A critically acclaimed[4] revival, directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, opened on Broadway on July 24, 2003 at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 67 performances and 28 previews.

The production was directed by Lear deBessonet and starred Kyle Scatliffe as Jim, Nicholas Barasch as Huckleberry Finn, Christopher Sieber as the Duke, Lauren Worsham as Mary Jane Wilkes and David Pittu as The King.

In pre-Civil War Missouri, near St. Petersburg, the vagabond child Huckleberry Finn describes the events by which he and Tom Sawyer had discovered a fortune.

In the cave, Tom, Huck and a group of their friends plan to form a band of robbers who will rampage around the countryside ("The Boys").

("Waitin' For the Light To Shine") Huck returns home in the darkness to find his Pap, a violent drunk, waiting for him, who drags him off to his cabin in the woods.

A posse is after Jim: with only moments to spare, they find a raft and get it afloat in the mighty Mississippi River ("Muddy Water").

The King and the Duke commandeer the raft and plot to sell Jim back into slavery for their own profit, unbeknownst to Huck ("When the Sun Goes Down In the South").

Huck, Jim, the Duke, and the King wash ashore in Bricktown, Arkansas, and attempt to fleece the rubes they find.

Through no fault of his own, he tells the con men everything they need to know about a fortune to be inherited in the Wilkes family, and they crash the funeral as impostors to go about securing their riches ("How Blest We Are").

Huck — through it all a pure soul — sees that the beautiful and innocent Mary Jane Wilkes is being robbed of her rightful inheritance by these "rapscallions", and steals back her money from the King and the Duke as she mourns her father's coffin ("You Oughta Be Here With Me").

Huck returns again to the raft and finds the Duke tarred and feathered: he has sold Jim back into slavery for a mere forty dollars.

He tears up the letter and resolves to free Jim again, even if it means he will go to Hell ("Waiting For the Light To Shine" (Reprise)).