I just got home from tonight's performance and feel like I just got off a long ride on a yo-yo. The quality of the show swings from good/great to mediocre (or worse) so quickly and so often that it's hard to know what to make of it right away.
The show starts off on a very strong note. Norbert leads the entire ensemble in a very winning number called "Be the Hero." It is lively, catchy and a major rebound from anything in The Addams Family. The scene is set for Norbert to be a great storyteller who is bound to exaggerate a little, but always tell tales full of life and joy. Norbert's singing and especially his dancing were terrific, and I thought if the show can keep this up we will have a winner!
Norbert, for his part, does hold up his end of the bargain and turns in my favorite performance I've seen him give outside of Fifty Words. I think he will go down in history as one of our greatest musical theater performers.
Unfortunately the storytelling and score don't keep the standard upheld by the leading man, and the second number for the witch takes a big dip south. It starts out promising enough with a dazzling choreographic effect that is pure Stroman, but the song itself is weak. Ciara Renee's vocal is fine, but the melody sounds like any old pop song and the lyrics are forgettable. I felt like she was going to burst into the fortuneteller's part of "The Devil You Know" from Side Show any moment.
Then we get a couple of book scenes; I sometimes took a issue with the structure of the storytelling, but the dialogue is often refreshing and very natural. From a dialogue standpoint I think it's one of the stronger books of the past few seasons.
The problem here is we stuck with the modern day characters for a long while and what we (I) really want to see, and what is fun, are the stories. Bobby Steggert gets a fine but boring song in a park. Kate Baldwin gets a fine but boring song by the pool. (Kate's song doesn't even get a button, so no one knows to applaud at the end.)
Kate Baldwin sounds GLORIOUS the whole evening. She has a quite, beautiful number in act two called "I Don't Need a Roof" that was one of my favorite musical moments of the night. Her two duets with Norbert, "Time Stops" and "Daffodils," were other highlights. The role is kind of underwritten and could have been a real drag in less capable hands, but she does very well with it and elevates her material.
Bobby Steggert's character is more problematic in that he is a character in a musical who shouldn't sing. His father is a man who lives in fantasy and whimsy. In fact Norbert's character should probably never speak. A character like that could never bothered with something so plain and boring as the spoken word- his life is full music at every moment. Bobby's character is the exact opposite: analytical, realistic, pragmatic. He's not without emotion, but the emotion must be well thought out and appropriate. His character wouldn't sing a song in Central Park. That would be silly.
Things kick back into gear when Norbert's story begins to unfold.
I should disclose that I am a big fan of the movie and get pretty emotional when things come together at the end. I'm glad the musical isn't the movie on stage, but I think the stories lack some of the emotional punch that they have in the film. For example there's a line near the end of the circus sequence where Ewan McGregor says, "It was that night I discovered that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely, and lacking in social niceties." It's lines like these that make the wild stories worth hearing.
If one number needs to be cut ASAP it's "Showdown" from act two. It's a fantasy sequence that doesn't work and the song is a mess. It sucked all the energy out of the show. It reminded me of that wild west number from "A Christmas Story," and it didn't fit with the rest of the musical.
As far as the tech aspects go, William Ivey Long's costumes were impeccable as always and the set was large, with many moving pieces. It felt like a big splashy musical, something that his been in short supply of late.
There were Stroman touches all over the place, and I found them to be delightful. I won't give them away because she does so well with surprising the audience.
I think all the problems are totally fixable if they use the preview period wisely. Big Fish might not be anything revolutionary, but it is a solid piece bolstered mightily by a strong cast. I look forward to going back in previews to see what work they've done.
SLIGHT SPOILERS to discuss the end**********************
I was worried about the ending, because this is where the film really got it right for me and I just couldn't see how they would replicate it on stage. The sequence stayed close to what happens in the movie with Bobby's character finally telling his father a story. This is where I think we should hear him sing for the first time; it's the first time he's ever needed song to express himself as well as finally understanding the importance/usefulness of storytelling.
END SLIGHT SPOILERS******************
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
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