BIG

[orchajaws]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 5:08pm

The first show I saw on broadway was "Big - The Musical." It's been so long since I saw it that I was wondering if anybody had any memories of that show. Updated On: 6/22/04 at 05:08 PM

[broadway86]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 5:19pm

It was brilliant. Daniel Jenkins should have been nominated for a Tony, and the show should have won for Best Score (yes, over Rent).

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 5:25pm

I saw the road show and remember the scene where they tell him he's too short to go on the ride because he wasn't as tall as the sign...and the girl he was trying to impress was so much shorter than him that she walked under the sign!
I do remember the song "Cross The Line" and every now and then catch myself humming it.
I don't remember the piano scene but I do remember that was the logo.
I also think Stro directed it too.
Funny, the things you remember, and the things you don't

[JakeB]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 5:27pm

What was the show like? Didn't it do badly? What was good/bad about it?

[Jon]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 6:22pm

Stroman choreographed, her late husband Mike Ockrent directed. Stroman's choreography was mostly a bunch of kids doing what Stroman thought of as cool "hip-hop" moves. "Forbidden Broadway" had fun ridiculing it.

The show failed becaused it lacked heart and focus. Ockrent's success was in slick farces - CRAZY FOR YOU and ME AND MY GIRL. The scenes in "big" that required genuine emotion were weak. The carnival scene was silly - with a weird ferris wheel thing that had dummies in it. The mother had a big emotional number "Stop Time" which she sang in the food court of a shopping mall. There were a bunch of kids in the show who were forced into scenes, just to give them something to do. In the final scene where Josh turns back to a little kid, all the other kids from the neighborhood are there to see him change back!

Oh. let's add to this the odd phenomonon of Dan Jenkin as Josh. Though he looks nothing like Tom Hanks, he has a very similar speaking voice, and he sings the way you'd think Tom Hanks would sing, if he could (you get the idea). So all through the show, you're reminded of Tom Hanks, and how much better the movie was!

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 7:16pm

BIG was a good musical that, with a revised book and better vision with the director, would have been VERY VERY good. Great score and had some rock solid great performances.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:22pm

Big: The Musical brings back painful memories for me. I was in a production of it (not on Broadway ), and it was not a very good theater experience. I played Derek (the boyfriend of the girl Josh likes). I also don't agree that it should have won Best Score over Rent.

[broadway86]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:55pm

I wholeheartedly disagree. While RENT does have some good songs (most of the show is "scene songs"), the songs in this show were tight and polished, exhilerating and memorable. I think it was more than worthy of a longer run.

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 9:44pm

I'm too biased to make a real opinion, but it was my first professional musical too (I was a late bloomer). I really enjoyed it, but then I saw Beauty and the Beast at the Kennedy Center, and I realized how much more a show could be.

[iruvyou]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:20pm

ICH!!!!!!!! I was in the same production as the gov. I was Mrs. K and performed a few times as Miss Watson. Evil. i very much dislike that show! (sorry if offended anyone )

[Erich]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:34pm

OMG,

It was my first broadway show as well! It really changed my life. It's still my favorite. I still have yet to see the flaws, then again, my memory of the show is strictly from when I was a kid.

[zoran912]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:40pm

I was in a production of BIG this past year at Pebblebrook High School. (Photos at www.cccepa.com) I played Mr. Kopecki. While the music was grating at first, it grew on me. Not like a fungus either, I really came to like it. I never did see a professional production. Mrs. Baskin's songs are the most impressive, in my opinion. I love "Stop, Time" and "Say Good Morning To Mom". I still favor RENT over BIG. Maybe it's just me.

[jefflang007]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:42pm

I love the show and have never seen it. living in Australia we never get the good stuff.
I did get to meet Maltby and Shire who did the score on Sat night, as they were here for a procuction of closer than ever.
They are great guys and said they have fond memories of the show. funnily enough I took a poster from the show allong and they signed it!
cheers.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 2:29am

I saw BIG at the Shubert.... it is my favorite Broadway show. Dan Jenkins was awesome as Josh Baskin... Brett Tabisel was equally as impressive as Billy.

The national tour I also saw... which included NO kids except Billy, little Josh, Cynthia and Derek. So, a lot of the show didnt make sense (especially Cross that Line and It's Time). So if you ever reference that tour of BIG, then I would say the show is awful as well.

But BIG is a charming musical and it just 'warms the heart' to watch it.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 2:29am

I saw BIG at the Shubert.... it is my favorite Broadway show. Dan Jenkins was awesome as Josh Baskin... Brett Tabisel was equally as impressive as Billy.

The national tour I also saw... which included NO kids except Billy, little Josh, Cynthia and Derek. So, a lot of the show didnt make sense (especially Cross that Line and It's Time). So if you ever reference that tour of BIG, then I would say the show is awful as well.

But BIG is a charming musical and it just 'warms the heart' to watch it. And in case no one noticed-- my image icon is Dan Jenkins dancing on the BIG keyboard!!!!

Updated On: 6/21/04 at 02:29 AM

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 9:33am

I thought BIG was horrible. Just not the least bit entertaining. In my mind, the only redeeming quality it had was the song "Stop Time"...I cry whenever I hear it. Otherwise, for me it was a waste of money.

[dano]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 9:35am

Actually, it's one of my favorite shows.

I got to play "adult" Josh last year, and absolutely loved it! There are so many wonderful songs in this show. "Stop, Time" still gets me. "Cross the Line" is wonderful. The part he sings just after she kisses him -- still gives me chills!

All of Maltby & Shire's stuff really gets to me. I wish they'd do something new! They haven't done anything since Big have they?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 10:20am

I loved the Broadway production. I remember reading the reviews, which were not too bad. The whole production was quite good, and that set of FAO Schwartz was AMAZING. Later, I saw the tour and it was definitely one of the worst shows I had ever seen. The day-glo orange sets were hideous, the score was hacked to bits with terrific songs deleted and pointless new songs thrown in for no apparent reason (My Secretary's in Love??? Served no purpose). And without the kids, it was extremely dull. What was nice about the kids in the original production was the shift of focus from the film. While the film seemed more like an adult behaving like a kid (more nostalgic), the Broadway production really seemed more like a kid's view of being an adult (original intention of the story).

I believe the only version available for production now is the tour version, so the infinitely superior Broadway book and score will only be a distant memory.

[JamieMcG]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 10:26am

There is actually a fantastic book called MAKING IT BIG, that is a diray from day one of what exactly happened with the building of that show. It's great to be able to look at it and see what went wrong and what went right. Check it out.

[dano]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 10:45am

I agree -- "Making it Big" is a must read.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 11:09am

I read Making It Big as well... it is noted that Maltby & Shire wrote over 80something songs for the show and only 13 made it into the Broadway production. Then they tore apart the Broadway score and replaced/redid some of the better songs and replaced them with a bunch of less-than numnbers.

[Broadway Lara]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 11:28am

it was very cute but there was room for improvement

[Catschwartz]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 8:01pm

that was the first show i saw too, all i remember was i didnt like it

[johny0828]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 12:49am

i blocked all memory of seeing that show. i was suppose to see rent that night but ended up seeing big.

[Amneris]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 1:38pm

BIG is probably my all time favorite bway show. I was 11 or 12 when I first saw it in NYC and I was in awe of the sets, costumes and cast. They were all incredible. All i remember was how big my eyes got when the FAO Schwartz set was brought on. It should of been open longer. That was a real family show. Plus, it started my early fanship of Ms Barbara Walsh. Updated On: 6/22/04 at 01:38 PM