Posted: 11/13/15 at 5:42pm
Has anyone else seen Gigantic at the Acorn theater? I saw it last night and it was really really fun. Some really great music with lyrics that drive the plot and lots of humor. The on stage band sounds awesome and there are some kickass vocalists and comic actors on the stage. I think it has a lot of potential but I would be interested to know what others think. Anyone?
Posted: 11/13/15 at 6:06pm
I'm curious as to why the Vineyard is putting this on but it's playing at Theatre Row.
Posted: 11/13/15 at 9:30pm
Going Sunday, Looks interesting.
Updated On: 11/14/15 at 09:30 PM
Posted: 11/13/15 at 11:39pm
The Vineyard is having issues with their plumbing which I hear affects the rest rooms in the foyer and which wouldn't be resolved in time for the GIGANTIC season.
Posted: 11/14/15 at 1:21pm
I saw the show last night night through TDF. It was sold out and the audience was laughing loudly for the entire evening. Seems like more laughs than any comedy I have seen in a long time. The young cast is incredible. So many interesting performers that I had not seen in NYC before. A lot of talent on the stage. Ryan Raymond, Leslie Kritzer, Max Wilcox and Taylor Louderman all delver fantastic comedic performances. I think this show has is a lot better book and score than School of Rock and am impressed by the level of polish for an early preview. They need to cut 10 minutes from act one and act two flies by. The actor who plays Brent also has incredible comic timing. My sister struggles with her body image (and I guess I do also) and she came with me to the show. She was really into the plot and depictions of kids who are not just a joke, but real people with complicated motivations. Great job Vineyard! I may go again next month because it was so fun and has really clever lyrics that I want to hear again now that i know what happens.
Posted: 11/14/15 at 1:59pm
I saw this in its previous incarnation (as Fat Camp) a few years ago. I'm glad to hear it seems to have improved quite a bit! I didn't hate it then, but it needed a lot of work.
Posted: 11/14/15 at 5:41pm
I saw this last night and I am surprised at the glowing responses thus far. Despite across-the-board great performances and some funny lines, the show is not very good. It's far too long (2 and a half hours for a plot that would be stretched thin in a 90 minute movie) and the score is bland and altogether forgettable. The book is best described as an attempt at Ryan Murphy's signature blend of pop culture reference ("Not today Satan!" is said and lands with a resounding thud), cliche stereotype jokes ("I have more chins than a Chinese phonebook," is actually used- a joke that was already old when Weird Al used it in "Fat" 30 years ago), attempts at social relevance (viral videos and smartphones figure prominently in the plot), and a mixture of mocking people while also wanting empathy for them.
If there was polish on previous previews, it was not as evident last night- perhaps due to changes. The last 15 minutes especially seemed a bit thrown together.
Leslie Kritzer has a ludicrous second-act Michael Jackson parody number that has to be seen to be believed for its sheer ridiculousness; I would be shocked if it doesn't get the axe but I'm also shocked it made it into a performance at all. There's also a talent show segment that features a Crucible cheerleading routine and a very lame parody of Hamilton.
Overall, I will say this falls more into a "fun" kind of bad; like I mentioned, the cast is fantastic and there's some ridiculous stuff that just needs to be seen. But a quality show? Nah.
Posted: 11/15/15 at 2:08am
Kad, somehow your anti-review makes me want to see this even more. And I'm pretty offended they use the Phonebook joke.
Posted: 11/16/15 at 10:09am
I saw the show yesterday afternoon and liked it a lot. The performances are outstanding and I thought the material was very good especially the music.
I actually loved the homage to hamilton and the second act surprise scene in the woods I thought was hilarious.
I think they have some work to do still in act 1 (some cuts here and there) but all in all a very enjoyable evening. It's a very good show that has the possibility to be pretty great.
Posted: 11/25/15 at 10:29am
I'm going to have to agree with Kad on this one. Maybe we both saw a different show but I found very little to be funny here. The jokes already feel old so I can't imagine this being relevant five years from now. That's the problem with relying so heavily on current technology and social media. Saying things like "#blessed" made me roll my eyes. I know this started as a NYMF show and it doesn't feel like it's evolved much since then.
The acting was alright. No one was particularly outstanding to me. I would call out Burke Moses as the absolute worst of the bunch. There were multiple instances where he forgot his lines and just sort of started mumbling along. One time when he was supposed to be harmonizing with Leslie Kritzer which was always excruciating to hear. I actually like Leslie Kritzer and don't know why she's wasting her time on this juvenile garbage.
That brings me to the music which is completely forgettable. I would say there are only about 5 songs in the entire show that are reprised multiple times and sung by different characters. This might not be the actual case but it certainly felt that way. I saw the show last night and couldn't tell you a single song. The only one that stuck was the horrendous Michael Jackson parody that actually does have to be seen to be believed. It was beyond awful and yet somehow looked like the most expensive part of the show because it included about 12 dead, dancing furries.
When you walk into the theatre there is a giant piece of fabric covering the stage and GIGANTIC is projected upon it. There is a big reveal once the show starts to reveal...a pretty boring set. There is a hideous backdrop with some pixelated trees printed on them. The band is elevated on each side of the stage and a giant moveable platform is anchored in the center. At the end, all the fat campers jump around and cause the entire set to "collapse." This seems like it would be offensive to fat people but maybe that's just me.
The show is currently running 2 hours and 15 mins with intermission and could certainly use some judicious cuts. Instead of focusing on one plot, subplots are piled on to do nothing more than add time. This one is a hard pass for me. Wish I had left at intermission.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:25pm
Any other opinions?
I'm torn because I would really like to hear Ryann Redmond and Bonnie Milligan sing live but nothing about the story really appeals to me. Is it worth it to go for them or should I just wait until they're cast in a better show?
Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:26pm
Oh I thought this thread was going to be about The disney film.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 7:15pm
Reviews have been dismissive. The Times even sent one of their second-stringers to review.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 7:42pm
This was very Heathersesque to me, very enjoyable in the moment, very forgettable afterward.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 9:26pm
The nypost loved it and the ap gave it a positive review. How is that dismissive? Because isherwood didn't review it?
Posted: 12/5/15 at 9:38pm
Isherwood didn't even review it. The Post's review is one paragraph.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 10:01pm
I don't understand your point. The post said 'see it' and thought it was hilarious. The ap..which I believe goes to every major new outlet in the country, said it was great.
The times was mixed. Look you didn't like the show..I did as did a few major reviewers. What's your axe to grind here? It's a musical why so disparaging of it?
Posted: 12/6/15 at 8:59am
I saw it last week and thought it was hilarious and touching. Its really cool and inspiring to see non-traditional types on stage in leading roles. It's predictable bc it kind of pays homage to teen summer camp movies, but the book is so funny and the entire cast is top notch-they sound amazing individually and blend together SO well. I haven't read any reviews so I can't speak to that, but I'm surprised to read they're not good because the audience was loving it. Including me!
Posted: 12/6/15 at 5:54pm
Just got back. Agony.
Awful score and dumb book. Sorry, but most of the musicals at NYMF, where this started, I believe, are mediocre.
Liked the cast. Young and talented and hard working but the material is against them. All the musical numbers today were met with tepid polite applause.
A few standing at the end and some were laughing heartily so maybe there's an audience for this-including some on this board.
I really couldn't wait for it to end. And why no musical numbers listed in the program?
Posted: 12/19/15 at 6:37pm
I'm glad I saw this show for myself before it closed. I don't think it's as good as some people have said, and I don't think it's as bad as others have described. The songs are far from classic but they were sung really well and I didn't find them offensive or grating. They were just simple and straightforward. I found them less annoying that "Everybody Say Yeah" from Kinky Boots. The cast is great but they don't all have that much to do. I did like that many of the characters had time to shine but I feel like I wanted more of the story of the fat camp and instead I got the story of Robert (which makes sense when you find out why the show is called Gigantic). But it felt like they wanted to do too many things. I don't know if they believed that Robert's story on its own was strong enough so they had this whole fat camp angle and these side plots and it made both sides feel kind of unfinished and muddled the messages about weight loss and body positivity and self acceptance. Act 2 was a little messier because that's where the messages were supposed to come together and didn't. I don't know if Robert really learned a lesson or completed his character arc in the right way. Taylor (Ryann Redmond's character) was problematic throughout because of this lack of clarity but I did enjoy her performance. I do think they did play the characters' weight for laughs like in Bonnie Milligan's version of "Popular" and in the Cannonball number but not in a way that upset me. I honestly don't think it's a terrible show. I just think they needed to be clearer on what they wanted to say instead of Deus Ex Machina-ing the whole thing with Vanessa Williams. I did think it was funny at times. Leslie Kritzer was generally great, as was the actress playing Britta.
