Should BIG, the musical, be revived on Broadway?

[Actor 7]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:27pm

After BIG, The musical had a brief run (about six months on Broadway) back in the mid-nineties, it went on the road, where the authors and composer continued to refine it and improve it. Do you think it could be revived successfuly on Broadway? I would be interested in hearing impressions of those who saw it either on Broadway or after, when it toured a few cities. It had some very major talent attached to it, including Mike Ockrent and Susan Stroman. Why did it fail to have a longer run on Broadway?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:32pm

I saw the original production and I liked it a lot. I didn't see the tour, but I've read the revised script and I think it was better before they messed with it. I can't fathom a revival being successful, though.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:42pm

I remember seeing it. It was fine and cute. Nothing special.

My kids really really enjoyed it.

Didn't it end up being a flop??

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:53pm

After BIG, The musical had a brief run (about six months on Broadway) back in the mid-nineties, it went on the road, where the authors and composer continued to refine it and improve it.

Did you see the tour? I saw both and it was the opposite of being refined or improved. It was hacked to shreds, songs were awkwardly rewritten to ill-effect in order to accommodate the reduced number of children in the cast or even replaced relevant numbers with new songs that added nothing to the plot. The new sets were a day-glo green and orange gaudy mess. The elimination of most of the children in the cast drastically shifted the perspective of the show, which set it apart from the film in the first place. If you listen to both recordings, you can get an idea of how horribly they screwed up a decent show.

I really enjoyed the Broadway production. I think it is Maltby and Shire's best overall score (though the wildly uneven Baby includes their best individual songs). The use of the "time" device in the lyrics was coherent and inspired, though mostly cut out of the tour. The staging was wonderful, with two-story houses and an elaborate and enormous pop-up-book inspired set for FAO Schwartz (reduced to two small backyard slides in the tour). Stroman's work was wonderful and the cast was enormously talented. I would never see the show again unless the original score was used. What that tour did to the show is even worse than what the Broadway production did to the Jekyll and Hyde tryouts.

[kyleorlando]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:55pm

I dunno. I just remember the "ick" factor of the sex and thinking "oh this bit didn't translate well to live stage at all!"

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 5:55pm

It's a patch of crap with some diamonds in it, that can't be improved by any revival.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 7:27pm

It was a HUGE flop - the producers kept it running for months even though it was losing money every week. It opened in the spring, should have closed Labor Day at the latest, and ran through Christmas at a loss. They kept hoping sales would pick up.

[dramarama3]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 8:06pm

I was never even a fan of the movie

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 8:08pm

I saw it & liked it.

The problem is that even with a good economy you do not revive a flop. There are plenty of successful musicals that are never revived.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 8:12pm

BUT OF COURSE YOU DID!

You're a flop collector, Roxy.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 8:21pm

I saw Big on Broadway and minimally enjoyed it. The best thing about Big was the kids and especially, Spencer Liff. He was amazing. This young man needs to step out of the chorus. He stole Big, Cry Baby and although I haven't seen this production of Equus...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 8:27pm

I thought it was terrible.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:01pm

I really like the opening number.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:08pm

I liked it better than Thou Shalt Not, Seussical, the Kiss Me Kate revival, both Grease revivals, The Producers and Spring Awakening.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:13pm

No.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:40pm

It was actually the first musical I was ever in (a regional production). I was Billy and thoroughly enjoyed doing it. I think, however, that my fondness of the show relates to my good memories, not its quality.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:49pm

They should revive it with the actor/musician concept. Flop shows that are revived with no orchestra seem to be doing well.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 9:49pm

My big complaint, which was sort of fixed for the tour, is the lack of an 11-o'clock number for Billy. There's nothing in the stage version that says why he opts to return to being a kid. And if anything, that moment SCREAMS for a song.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 10:44pm

My big complaint, which was sort of fixed for the tour, is the lack of an 11-o'clock number for Billy. There's nothing in the stage version that says why he opts to return to being a kid. And if anything, that moment SCREAMS for a song.

Actually, the song you describe does exist. It's called When You're Big. He describes his feeling about being faced with adult responsibilities for which he wasn't prepared. The number was interjected with a dance number where he sees his friends having fun enjoying their childhood and he realizes he wants it back. The songs ends with:

"Way back before all this began
Things got tough, I ran
When you're small you can
Hide like Peter Pan
But when you're big
You have to be a man"

Daniel Jenkins performed the hell out of that song. The song was in both the Broadway and tour versions.

OH! And I remembered some more! I liked Big more than the Broadway version of Jekyll and Hyde, the revival of Sweet Charity (except Christina Applegate was fab), Meet Me in St. Louis and Dirty Dancing. And to compare it to London, it was much better than Boyband, Closer to Heaven, Grease and Notre Dame of Paris.

Updated On: 2/13/09 at 10:44 PM

[Chip12]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 11:24pm

My school did this a couple years ago (I was in the ensemble...) =( and I loved the musical. It's almost as good as the movie. Why didn't Tom Hanks do it? The guy on the soundtrack sounds nothing like him.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 11:28pm

Soundtrack???

Tom Hanks does not sing.

Tom Hanks does not perform on Broadway.

Tom Hanks said, in fact, that he HATES Broadway musicals...

...until he and his wife produced the movie version of MAMMA MIA.

[Chip12]

Posted: 2/13/09 at 11:30pm

That Mamma Mia movie was SOOO bad. Who told Pierce Bronsan to sing?

[winston89]

Posted: 2/14/09 at 12:18am

Both the film and musical Big have a VERY special place in my heart. Big was the first Broadway musical I ever saw, and because of it being the show that got me hooked into theatre, I have a very hard time noticing any flaws in it. The overall story is something that I love considering it has been a part of my life in either the musical version or the movie since I was six.

I did see it on Broadway and on tour and a couple of regional productions. I am not fond of some of the score changes for the tour.

If I remember correctly, the number Say Good Morning To Mom, replaced the original This Isn't me. This Isn't Me was the song that Josh sang when he realized that he turned from a kid into an adult. I think that Say Good Morning To Mom was the mother's perspective about having to wake up her son in the morning etc. Both of which end up with the mom finding a strange adult in her house. (The adult of course being Josh)

Another score change that they did for the tour and then regional productions was that they cut the song I Wanna Go Home and replaced it with Big Boys.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/14/09 at 8:51am

Mister Matt-
The problem with that song is it's bumped in with "Skateboard Ballet," and a) on album that doesn't translate...at all. b) It kills the momentum of it all. Had it been me directing, the ballet would have taken place before the song, to give the song more time. Because as it is, it (to me) is completely wasted. It diminishes the impact.

[matty159]

Posted: 2/14/09 at 9:45am

I remember getting the recording for this one and totally falling in love it. In fact, it is a score that I still listen to every now and again.

That being said, I decided to see it on Sunday afternoon at the end of one of my trips by my lonesome (I couldn't rook anyone into going to see it with me). It was one of the few shows I can remember where I wanted to walk at intermission. The spark and zest I felt listening to the disc was distinctly missing on the stage. It might have been a case of my expectations being set really high, but it was a painful afternoon for me at the Shubert.

And I had no idea that Spencer Liff in it!