Posted: 2/4/25 at 1:35pm
I’m a huge Big Fish apologist, so this is super exciting news. Are there commercial producers attached to this? I could see this doing an Encores run. Would love to see a revival happen and this cast is super stacked.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 1:41pm
Fellow Big Fish apologist here. I'm really hoping this show finally gets its due.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 1:49pm
I love the movie and was so disappointed by the musical on Broadway. It lacked any sort of cohesive aesthetic or vision, and the score was completely forgettable. The story begs for inventive staging ala Peter & the Star Catcher and an earthy score featuring folk, roots, bluegrass, etc. When you're telling a story about the power of story-telling, you have to come up with someting more compelling than the very literal and very overblown original production. I hope they've fixed it, but hard to imagine this being any better unless the score has been overhauled. Maybe reorchestrations could go a long way, but it would have to be as dramatic as the reworking of the Amelie score in London, which totally transformed that show in my view.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 1:58pm
I liked the musical but it definitely fell flat in parts. "Time Stops" was beautiful though.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 1:59pm
I'm going to the upcoming workshop directed by Jerry Zaks and looking forward to it! TRW Production is producing the workshop and, as Theatre Rights Worldwide is the licensor of the original Musical it seems they're the lead producers...so far anyway.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 2:26pm
I played Edward Bloom in the "9 Chairs Version" of the show. It is now called the "Small Cast Edition." (Although our director still cast a rather large cast, LOL!) It trimmed a lot of the excess "Stroman-isms" from the show and streamlined it to focus on that beautiful story and the characters. When I saw the Broadway version, I was a bit "meh," but I completely fell in love with the show with the scaled back version. Is it true that the London version cast a different actor to play older Bloom and younger Bloom?!? If so, that is terrible as seeing an amazing acting performance (like Norbert's) play all the different ages adds a level of magic to the show.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 2:32pm
I was a big fan of the Broadway production. Norbert and Kate Baldwin were sublime. I’d love to hear more from this upcoming reading. Nikki Renee Daniels is a great choice for Sandra (I loved her in Les Miz and as Bobbie in Company).
Posted: 2/4/25 at 2:59pm
I was a bit skeptical having an older actor and younger actor playing the same part. But from what I saw and heard, it worked very nicely. Kelsey Grammar played the old version. When I first heard, I was like, he can't sing the score. But in the clip I saw on youtube it actually worked and was quite touching. He sang, was fine but his younger self SANG and it added a layer that was absent in the original......though Norbert was truly fantastic in the role.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 6:39pm
I saw that production in London, I think late 2017. Kelsey Grammer was older Edward Bloom. Jamie Muscato played younger Edward. Both were fantastic. I loved the show and found it very moving.
Posted: 2/4/25 at 6:43pm
Nikki Renee Daniels singing I Don’t Need A Roof? Where can I get tickets?
Posted: 2/4/25 at 7:48pm
This is super exciting. I saw the "Small Cast Version" recently at the Marriott Theatre outside of Chicago and it was *incredibly* moving. And what a cast!
Posted: 2/4/25 at 7:52pm
Rentaholic2 said: "I love the movie and was so disappointed by the musical on Broadway. Itlacked any sort of cohesive aesthetic or vision, and the score was completely forgettable. The story begs for inventive staging ala Peter & the Star Catcher and an earthy score featuring folk, roots, bluegrass, etc. When you're telling a story about the power of story-telling, you have to come up with someting more compellingthan the very literal and very overblown original production. I hope they've fixed it, but hard to imagine this being any better unless the score has been overhauled. Maybe reorchestrations could go a long way, but it would have to be as dramatic as the reworking of the Amelie score in London, which totally transformed that show in my view."
I definitely hear bluegrass and folk influences in the score, but they're definitely buried under a generic Broadway sound in the orchestrations.
Amelie is a good comparison, because I always thought the show would be really well-suited for an actor-musician staging.
