Big Fish Preview Thread — Page 4

I saw the matinee yesterday as well...and really enjoyed it. Norbert was great IMO, but then again I'd probably pay to hear him sing the phone book.

There are only two issues I had with the show, and they were small...the sheet, and the "campfire girl" (as I like to call her) both seemed out of place, to me.

I'm curious to hear if any changes are made in the coming weeks...

Updated On: 9/8/13 at 01:21 PM

Maybe "out of place" was not the best phrasing. I thought it was cheesy (and not in a good way). And the sheet...really pointless, if you ask me. If they want to use it, they need to make it look like a pool. (In the movie, Edward had a pool in his backyard, and would often be found in it.)

Wait, that existed in Chicago, too?!

God, at the first preview, it was so awkward. My boyfriend thought she was there as a temporary insertion to stall a bit for time. I didn't mind so much that she was using her dress as a campfire, but the subsequent dance solo was ridiculous. I can't imagine a world in which that isn't cut.

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My guess is she would be bored? I have not seen the show.

Campfire girl got applause on the first preview. I Loved it and thought it was brilliant on the part of William Ivey Long.

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I saw Big Fish when it was initially released in theaters and found it to be an incredibly moving and emotional movie that has stuck with me through the years. I was hoping that this musical theater version would provide the same emotional wallop but sadly, it did not.

The version I saw Saturday evening belongs to Edward Bloom and while Butz is an incredibly talented actor, I felt he monopolized the show and left me wanting more of Baldwin and Steggert. It’s an extremely busy production (nearly dizzyingly so) and the story really suits itself well to a big Broadway musical, in the same way that A Christmas Story does with its fantasy sequences played out as big musical numbers. Except that A Christmas Story weaves them into the story much more easily—and smartly.

The show does run long and could benefit from some cuts during its preview period but my big complaint is that the final scene—which lays a heart-wrenching series of revelations on Will—is the one that August decided to condense—to the determent of the entire show. It is quite rushed and I really don’t think the audience has the opportunity to get inside Will’s head as the realizations unfold.

The sets are fun and some are quite inventive. The costumes are numerous and from the front row, one can see they are exquisitely designed—although nothing less is expected from William Ivey Long. The score is mostly generic and unmemorable, and while Time Stops and Daffodils were memorable numbers, I can’t for the life of me recall either tune. The reveal of the orchestra, however, was one of the biggest highlights of the show for me and they really did sound big and wonderful.

I just wish August would have taken his time with the ending and turned the audience into a collection of emotional wrecks like the movie did. Without that, I left disappointed. Not because it was bad but because it could have been so much better.

7/10 for Big Fish. I had seen The Glass Menagerie earlier in the day and found that disappointing as well--as I reported in its preview thread.

Josephine is no longer French. They are reporters and they met somewhere in the Middle East IIRC.

Now Will is a writer for the NY Times and that's why they're living in New York.

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I am looking at trying to get student discount tickets for the matinee on Saturday the 21st. Are the lines long? And what seat are usually left/offered to students?

Yes, and the fact that it's the first "big musical" of the season to open. Most things start off strongly, but we'll see if it can survive once other shows start opening, and the reviews, etc.

Judging from the material that wasn't cut after the tryout I think Susie Stro, might be in too deep and having issues actually "seeing" the show and what needs to be fixed. She might be suffering from a mild case of Julie Taymor syndrome.

sounds like I need to rush to see this, and rush to Broadway. I was not thinking of going because I felt broadway is dead but its not.

Unless he's rushing to hammer the last nail in Broadway's coffin, in which case: please don't.

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While I was moved by the ending, I found the entire thing to be a messy disappointment. There is so much stage action, and it's all so busy, that you rarely know where to look. While Steggert sings his Central Park solo, there is so much business in the background, that you wind up watching the props and costumes whir by and thinking, "what wasteful spending..."

I really wanted to like it. But I don't know. I adore Stroman. I hope they can get it together. But I can't see this lasting longer than "Catch Me If You Can".

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