Edward Bloom (Jeff Skowron) and young Will (Jude Mason) in Musical Theatre West’s Big Fish at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
Culture Writer
For a fanciful, heart-warming, romantic musical, you need cast your net no further than Musical Theatre West’s production of Big Fish, playing through Nov. 16 at the Carpenter Center. But if you’re looking for a one-to-one correspondence with Tim Burton’s 2003 film by the same name, this isn’t it.
The town of Spectre, which is filled with congenial ghosts in the film, is replaced by the lead’s hometown. Don’t expect the Korean singers who are literally joined at the hip or the ugly witch with a putrid eye either. This Big Fish is a bit tamer. This witch (Molly Garner) is far sexier and uses the standard-issue crystal ball.
For those who did not see the movie and have yet to see the musical, Big Fish is the story of traveling salesman Edward Bloom, his tall tales, his beloved wife and his only son, Will, who has no patience for what he believes is pure nonsense. Everyone likes a good story, except if you’ve heard it a thousand times. As Will sees it, Edward’s recounting of his dealings with a witch, a giant and a mermaid have long gone from good fun to pathetic babbling. For him, it’s not simply that these tales are unbelievable but that they crowd out any chance that Will has of ever knowing something real and true about his father.
Unlike his dreamer father, who advises Will to “be the hero of your story, be the guy who gets the girl and saves the day,” Will takes a just-the-facts-ma’am approach to life. Even when his dad attempts to break the ice that’s been forming between them for years, Will grimaces. As Will prepares to take his wedding vows, Edward quips, “I don’t know why we need rehearsal dinners. Everyone knows how to eat.” The audience chuckles but not Will.
As is the case with all Musical Theatre West productions this reviewer has ever seen, acting, singing, set design, lighting, and staging are all of Broadway quality, making it difficult to single out particular professionals or aspects for praise. Jeff Skowron is ideally cast as the amiable, homespun Edward Bloom, poised against Andrew Huber, who plays his adult son. At one point, Will discovers a document that he is convinced damns his father. An Old West showdown ensues, sans rifles, with Huber in skin-tight, black jeans, shirt, vest, boots and cowboy hat. No question where the audience’s allegiances are supposed to lie in this duel.
Earlier on, when Edward is a young man, long before he has a son, he and his pals trespass upon a witch and her cohorts cavorting with dark forces in the woods. Karen St. Pierre deserves kudos for her masterful rendering of these creatures of the night, draping them in capes that allow them to easily transform into trees or rocks. On a far lighter side of the supernatural is the lovely Marisa Field, who, in flesh-colored body suit replete with shimmers and sparkles, is a natural mermaid.
For those seeking romance (and aren’t we all?), Edward’s first encounter with Sandra (Rebecca Johnson), the woman who will become his wife, is certain to please. A wide-eyed, red-headed Johnson performs a darling “Little Lamb from Alabama” with two equally darling gals. If you want a definition of “adorable,” this number is it. After Edward and Sandra have been married for decades, their love paints a very different picture. Gone is the giddiness and innocence of youth; their affection is much deeper with the emotional and physical intimacy of being each other’s only one for so long. As Edward lies with his head in her lap, under the stars in their back yard, Sandra sings “I Don’t Need a Roof.”
Will’s quest to fulfill his need for a “real” father is realized near the end of the musical too. Earlier, a young Will (Jude Mason) begs his father to read Greek myths aloud to him before bed rather than tell any more of his own tales. At the close, however, Will returns home to find that the witch, the giant and the mermaid were as real in his father’s travels as Circe, the Cyclops and the Sirens were in Ulysses’.
Big Fish continues at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center through Sunday, Nov. 16. Performances are generally Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. A Thursday performance on Nov. 13 at 8pm, two Saturday matinees at 2pm on Nov. 8 and 15, and one Sunday evening performance at 7pm on Nov. 9. Tickets start at $20. Tickets may be purchased online at musical.org or by calling 562-856-1999 ext. 4. The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 E. Atherton St.
