"The first day of rehearsal, we had a signing coach and we had to learn the script word-for-word," Monley, 27, said in a telephone interview from his hotel in Cincinnati, where "Big River" had been playing for two weeks.

The production, with music and lyrics by country music songwriter Roger Miller and book by William Hauptman, and adapted from Twain's classic novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," plays at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Tuesday through April 3.

Monley not only plays Twain, who serves as narrator for the musical, but he provides the voice for Huck Finn, who is played by Tyrone Giordano, a deaf actor.

"Everything is done through visual and physical cues," Monley said. "The audience forgets after a while that we're signing. The deaf actors have such great rhythm and timing, the fact that they're deaf isn't a problem at all. It's not distracting at all.

"A lot of the actors don't have the ability to speak and the speaking actors provide their voices," Monley said.

Directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, this unique version of the original 1985 Broadway production of "Big River" adds sign language to the existing music and lyrics.

Originally developed by Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood in 2001, the production features deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing actors performing each role by speaking, signing, gesturing, singing and dancing.

The classic coming-of-age tale follows the journey of runaway boy Huck Finn. He escapes from his drunken father, meets Jim, a runaway slave, and they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft in the 1840s.

As Twain, Monley essentially tells the audience the story of Huck Finn as it unfolds onstage. He wears the classic Twainesque white linen suit and spends about 90 minutes in makeup where he's fitted with a white wig and beard and aged beyond his 27 years.

"People are very moved by the performance, it's done with such passion," he said.

Monley has toured with the production for about a year. A graduate of the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, he has appeared on Broadway in "Mamma Mia!" and in "South Pacific."

As far as Twain's writing is concerned, Monley said the humorist's themes are timeless.

"He deals with matters that are still relevant today with humor and intelligence," Monley said. "And, he's hilarious."

The American Sign Language adaptation of "Big River" was performed on Broadway in 2003-04 at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

The original Broadway production opened in 1985 and won seven Tony awards, including best musical, best book and best score. Musical numbers include "Do You Want to Go to Heaven," "Waiting for the Light to Shine," "Muddy Water" and "When the Sun Goes Down in the South."

"Big River, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" plays Tuesday through April 3 at Carol Mosani Hall, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Fridays and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays. Information: (813) 229-7827 or www.tbpac.org.

By Donna Hartman