Music by Roger Miller works well in performance but hasn't produced a hummable hit. Mark Twain fans can be grateful that William Hauptman's adaptation of "Huckleberry Finn" is generally true to the plot — although it leaves out several episodes and only skims the top of the characters and situations that have made Twain's work a classic.

So while the production is comprised of elements that fall short of extraordinary, they combine with honesty and heart to bring warranted attention to ordinary people. Of course, it helps a lot that Miller's musical style ("Chug-a-Lug," "Dang Me," "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd") is an excellent match for Twain's understated comic irony.

Twain's messages about slavery, bigotry and morality remain in the show, but because the plot doesn't preach, they float just below the surface — plain enough if you're looking for them, and dangerous enough to cause real harm to a small raft on the mighty Mississippi.

It's Sean Jones' performance as Huck Finn that gives the string of episodes its continuity. Not only does he provide narration necessary to replace great chunks of the original novel, he also neatly articulates Twain's perspective of viewing human foibles through the eyes of an innocent.

Jones is a ninth-grader and sings well enough to meet the undemanding "yee-haw" musical style. Better, he brings the right authentic ring to a youngster just beginning to pick his way through the foolishness and hypocrisy of his elders.

The shorthand style of the show's book doesn't develop the relationship between Huck and Jim, the runaway slave he teams up with as they raft down the river, as much as we might like, and their yearning for peace away from people is all poured into and summed up by the song "River In the Rain."

We'd also like to see and hear more of John Bryan as Jim, who is relegated to the backwater for the big middle part of the show, and is treated as a pawn during the last sequence as Tom and Huck conspire to steal him back out of slavery.

Steve Wagenseller and Tom Holowach are excellent as the scheming King and Duke and bring life and spirit ("The Royal Nonesuch") to the show's longest sequence. Russ Pederson appears as Tom Sawyer, and David Johnson plays Pap Finn.

Alison Maldonado gets a featured solo ("How Blest We Are"), as does Jakara Mato ("You Ought to Be Here with Me.")

But the women's roles are subordinate and stoic while the men get to have all the fun.