Big Fish On Broadway – A Musical With Heart

Big Fish On Broadway Is An Intriguing Musical

There are only two elements that keep Big Fish from being a great musical.

The music and the lyrics.

Everything else combines for a magical theatrical evening.

Where Big Fish on Broadway soars is in its ability to tug at the emotions and the memory of an audience that seeks an understanding of the memories that have shaped them.

The plot centers around a father who has been spinning vivid, astounding stories about himself for the sake of his little son. Instead of embracing the intense imagination of the stories, the boy is a little stuffed shirt who grows to be an adult stuffed shirt. He feels distant and disconnected from his father, yearning for the truth and unable to appreciate his father for who he is.

The story could not succeed without a mesmerizing leading performance. It’s hard to imagine any actor casting a more wondrous spell over the audience than the brilliant Norbert Leo Butz. He is Willy Loman melded with Walter Mitty; a traveling salesman with big dreams and a bigger imagination.

As the wondrously inventive staging brings them to life, the stories told by Butz – mermaids and giants, cheerleaders and witches – engross the audience in a mist of memory and mystery.

The richly talented Kate Baldwin is mostly wasted here. That is not a critique of her; she does admirably with an underwritten role without a memorable song.

Among the many delights of “Big Fish” is the constantly inventive and often unexpected staging.

Big Fish – Mermaid and a kiss.

Trees become chorus girls who become trees once again in a hypnotic and flowing piece of choreography. A mermaid swims in front of the stage; a giant walks not only through the proverbial haunted woods but through a bucolic Alabama town as well.

The plot turns on juxtaposing life events; the father is dying of cancer as his son awaits the birth of their first child. Ultimately the truths the son learns about his father open him to a new understanding, but also make him realize how, in so many ways, our stories are more important than the truth. Had he simply listened to and appreciated the stories in the first place, he’d not have needed to wait until his father was dying to understand the marvelous man.

I have written about the absolute importance of telling your story and sharing it with others. As I think of the stories of my father and my grandfather, I am not convinced that it is all that important that I know how many of the details were literally true. The stories themselves were important.

So what is wrong with “Big Fish”? The day after seeing the show I could not remember a single melody or memorable lyric. The lyrics were so pedestrian, especially in the ballads, that I found myself correctly anticipating the next rhyme again and again. While two of the period production numbers were terrific, there was not a song that resonated with any vibrancy.

In many ways, the show reminded me of Chaplin.  An ambitious production centering on a charismatic leading man, with less than memorable music. I predict that Butz will be a strong contender for his third Tony, but I doubt the cast album will set any sales records.