Did anyone see "big, The Musical" on Broadway? — Page 2

Unfortunately I didn't see it but I know Dan was great and he had a blast during the run. The sourvenir program is my treasure.

Little Josh, Patrick Levis is now 25 yrs old and formed a band with his siblings and friend, called Least Of These.

http://www.leastofthesetheband.com/

I'm wondering he was (and other kid cast members) were about 12 at that time, the same age as Henry and Katherine in Mary Poppins. I don't think they were double cast. Is that b/c they weren't in many scenes as Jane and Michael are?

Little Josh, Patrick Levis is now 25 yrs old and formed a band with his siblings and friend, called Least Of These.

I'm wondering he was (and other kid cast members) were about 12 at that time, the same age as Henry and Katherine in Mary Poppins. I don't think they were double cast. Is that b/c they weren't in many scenes as Jane and Michael are?

The show was on Broadway in 1996, so if he's 25 now, he was 14 or 15 when it was on Broadway. The kids were not double cast. The double-triple casting of kids is a Disney thing. It's not the norm. CHITTY was not double or triple cast, neither was the kid who played Jo Jo in SEUSSICAL.

(Brett Tabisel was even nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for BIG, and he was only 14 at the time!)

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Updated On: 12/7/06 at 05:58 AM

The only show that is not disney that double casts is Les Miserables. But, that isbecause if someone is sick the roles of young Cosette, Gavroche and Young Eponine can be interchangable. There have been loads of stories by people who played one of those three roles that talked about how they had to go on as one of the others because someone was sick. At that age The actor that is playing Gavroche has a voice that is high enough to pass for Cosette. So, they have four child actors not only to double cast but to be on guard in terms of standbys.

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I didn't see the Broadway production, but I had the cast album and saw a television special on the show and I fell in LOVE with it. (Granted, I was probably 14 at the time.) Some of the music is a little shmaltzy, but there are some beautiful songs as well: "I Want To Know" and "Stop, Time" are some of the most gorgeous musical theatre melodies out there. And I also love the catchy "Dancing All the Time" and "Cross the Line", "Coffee, Black" is also clever, as well as the song that Susan's friends sing to Josh in the second act. Ah, the memories, I'll have to pull out this cast album today.

I *did* see the post-Broadway tour, which was very scaled down, and I found it to be pretty underwhelming. Most of the Broadway score was still in tact, but it lacked the show's most positive aspect on Broadway -- the cast full of dancing kids who danced AMAZINGly. (I later ended up going to college with some of the Broadway "Big" kids, I always got a kick out of that since I wanted to BE them when i was younger.)

Anyway, it's a sweet show. It is flawed, but I can't imagine anyone not having a great time doing it.

Sorry for threadjacking but little boy and girl in Ragtime were double cast too.

>the most enjoyable theatre experience ever

Seriously?! I do like BIG music but I wouldn't say that.

When I first got the CD, I must confess that I didn't like the score. I put it away for a while and listened to it again. I liked it!!

I didn't see the it on Broadway, but I too read that book, "Making it Big". It's a facsinating read!

I disagree with some comments above - I think the touring version was a vast improvement over the original broadway produciton. The replacement songs make more sense - like "Big Boys" taking the place of "I Wanna Go Home". They kept the better of the songs and I thought it worked well on stage.

If you can read "Making it Big", please do - you will learn so much of the drama behind the scenes -- also who the person was that thought of making the movie into a musical!!! I think it's surprising since I felt I knew her from her tv show.

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Also one of my first shows when I was like 10 or 11. My family loved it and my little brother and I made up our own dance routines to "Cross The Line" and acted out most of the show on videotape. My mother also used "Stop, Time" for the photo montage at the beginning of my Bar-Mitzvah video :o) Worked brilliantly if I do say so myself.


Cause tonight is the nighttt when we cross the lineee
Cause tonight is the nighttt it's gonna happennn
You can wait on the side
There's a door open wide
And I tell you tonight's the night!

I loved the Broadway production. It was a fun show, though not revolutionary in any sense of the word. The tour was miserable, however. The changes in the score were just awful and in some cases, weakened the book considerably. And the design of the tour was very cheap and tacky. The original sets/costumes were brilliant, especially the FAO Schwartz set which rose out of the floor and expanded everywhere almost like a living pop-up book. The audience when I saw the show on Broadway was very enthusiastic and thought it might settle in for a decent run, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

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Saw it and i really liked it. I like much of the score

It was a shame it did not make it

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I did this how last season at my school. It was so much fun! Definately one of the best shows I've ever been in (the best being the production of "Little Shop of Horrors" which followed this show; I played Mr. Mushnik!) I remember our director telling us about the tour and how much he hated it in comparison to the B'way production. He hated it so much, in fact, that he and our music director spent quite a bit of time reviseing the score and libretto to be less like the tour. After listening to the MTI CD, I have to agree with some of his cuts. I prefer "Say Good Morning to Mom" instead of "This Isn't Me." I always felt like Mrs. Baskin needed more songs. Josh had plenty, his mother could at least get two! plus, the song shows the audience more of her character than what we would get without the song being in. The duet version of "Fun," however, was awful,a dn I'm glad our director got permission to use the original version.

My favorite memory of this show is the fourth scene in the second act. This is the scene with the song "The Real Thing." It's somewhat forgetable on the album, but the scene and the song work so well together, that the recording would have benefitted with some dialogue between the verses. I played Tom, the one who not only gets doused in the champagne Josh has failed at opening properly, he also gets his car totaled by Josh when he sends him out to move it for him. I had a blast with that scene and with that song. It's one of the few where I prefer the ong version over the original version. I just like the touring lyrics better.

Trust me, this is a highly underrated show. It did have a short run, but not because it was anything close to a bad show. It's a great show, and it's awesome to get young kids involved, many of which might be doing their first show. We had about...nine kids plus Billy and Little Josh, and the numbers came off perfectly. I believe the tour scaled down to an ensemble of four or five, but don't hold me to that. Our director gave us a number, but I can't remember it now.

Anyway: Great show, have FUN!

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I,too, was at that high school announcement. I have no idea what this is going to be like. Was it really that bad on Broadway?

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How did they do the transformation from Young Josh to Adult Josh: Was it done a la Damn Yankees: fade to black on Joe Boyd and appears Joe Hardy in his place.

The movie is on and I was just wondering how it was done.

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