Mark Twain Presents The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

When <b>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</b> first appeared in 1876 it was a dismal failure selling fewer than 24000 copies during its first year on the market. It wasn't until Mark Twain published his masterpiece <b>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</b> that Tom Sawyer truly gained an audience perhaps due to the rapscallion's brief appearance in that novel.<p>Tom Sawyer perhaps even more than Peter Pan is the icon for eternal boyhood. Whether playing hooky from school exploring the depths of a cavern romancing a fair maiden hunting for buried treasure or even attending his own funeral Tom is an endearing composite of brash American confidence unbridled enthusiasm and fresh-faced naivety and he is certainly one of Mark Twain's most memorable characters.<p>Although Twain gained his initial reputation as a newspaper reporter his was a storyteller at heart winning fans with his sparkling wit and keen observations of human nature in such popular tales as <i>The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County</i> and <i>A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court</i>. It is fitting that Twain himself should be a primary character in bringing Tom's story to life on the stage in playwright Mike Parker's delightful adaptation <b>Mark Twain Presents The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</b>.