THEATRE REVIEW: "Big Fish" at the Oriental Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      On April 13th, 2013, I saw a performance of the World Premiere Production of the Andrew Lippa / John August / Susan Stroman musical "Big Fish" at the Oriental Theatre (now called the Nederlander Theatre) in Chicago, IL.  This musical was based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the Tim Burton film.  Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Baldwin, and Bobby Steggert starred in this production, of which the set was designed by Julian Crouch--who also was the scenic designer of "The Addams Family," which also had its World Premiere in Chicago.  

     Susan Stroman not only directed this production, but she was also the choreographer.  Strangely enough, I don't remember anything about the choreography in "Big Fish."  I remember bits and pieces of the musical, including Norbert Leo Butz and Kate Baldwin having to play their characters at a variety of ages.  I remember sitting close enough to the stage to notice that neither of them were successfully pulling it off--particularly when they were playing teenagers.  I think Kate Baldwin knew this, because there was either fear or anger in her eyes.  Or she was resentful that she didn't get a baseball cap to play a teenager like Norbert Leo Butz did.  Something else I remember noticing was that Katie Thompson, who played a witch, was belting these amazing high notes in her song.  But whenever she sang, it seemed like all the instruments in the orchestra blared right along with her--completely drowning her out.

     Bobby Steggert might have gotten to sing one good song (which were few and far between in this musical).  When his character was a kid, a child actor played the part.  So he didn't have to walk around the stage on his knees.  The ending of the musical was a little sad.  The problem was that the musical wasn't that great, so I wasn't that emotionally involved in the plot.  As I said in a previous blog post / review, every World Premiere of a musical I've seen ended up being a Broadway flop.  "Big Fish" was no different.  After performing in Chicago from April 2nd through May 5th, 2013, the musical began previews in New York September 5th of 2013, officially opened on October 6th, 2013, and closed December 29th of that year.  Surprisingly enough, a cast recording was released.  I tried listening to it once.  Once was more than enough.