Big Fish

Review ported over from my blog (and I didn't get a freebie, and I did do a standing ovation, as did my hard-to-please husband).

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Over at the rebranded The Other Palace (formerly St James’ Theatre), something rather magical is going on, with a bit of Broadway pizazz in this show of tall tales, misunderstandings, loss, redemption, daffodils, and fish.

Kelsey Grammer has been imported from the US to make his London stage debut in Andrew Lippa’s musical, itself based on the screenplay for the film (starring Albert Finney) written by John August, itself based on a novel by Daniel Wallace.

Edward Bloom is introduced at his straight-laced son’s wedding, shortly after they’ve been fishing. He’s been cautioned not to share his ‘stories’ or even make a toast, but of course, he doesn’t listen. Quickly, though, we realise that all is not well and that his son Will (Matthew Seadon-Young) will have to make sense of the man who he regards as a stranger and who is starting to slip away.

While Edward slips in and out of consciousness, with his loving wife Sandra (Clare Burt) and new (and pregnant) daughter-in-law Josephine (Frances McNamee) close by, we meet his young self (Jamie Muscato) and follow him on wild adventures with a witch (Landi Oshinowo), a giant (Dean Nolan), and a circus supremo (Forbes Masson), as well as young Sandra (Laura Baldwin). These boast bizarre and big song and dance numbers – often pastiches – while the real-time/life scenes are more of the ballad type. Little Will is present for most of the time, too, and was played by Colby Mulgrew at the performance we saw; he reacts to the fun and the sadness around him and pulls us in.

The set is simple enough, utilising sound effects and video projections to give us a sense of where we are, when outside the hospital ward. A lovely act one closer gives us a stage full of daffodils, which were always Sandra’s favourite flowers, although we might not quite believe the story of how the young Edward and Sandra met.

Some commentators on this show have scoffed at reports of audiences being moved by events as they unfold, but certainly at the evening performance I attended there were quite a few people dabbing their eyes, and rightly so, as the final scenes are deeply moving, and the effectiveness of this has to be laid at the door of director Nigel Harman and star Kelsey Grammer, who is simply superb in both the humorous and tragic scenes, as well as throwing himself into the boisterous song routines.

Incidentally, front row ticket holders may well get a closer encounter with Grammer than you might have bargained for, which was amusing in itself. There’s some doubling of roles in a hard-working cast, with Oshinowo and Masson portraying two characters, while the smaller roles in ensemble are well-drawn. The fantasy sequences are great, and Burt is quietly wonderful in a role which might have misfired, as is McNamee. I found Muscato had a lot of charm as young Edward, although it’s hard to think he grew up to turn into Frasier (still Grammer’s best-known role, and despite best efforts he doesn’t quite shake off memories of Seattle’s finest).

If you want something which is ‘flipping’ marvellous, with a ‘sole’ and a good line in ‘cod’ philosophy, then make your way to The Other Palace for this short run; it is well worth your time and is definitely the ‘plaice’ to be.

I'm rephrasing, but Hal Prince once said that in order to have a good musical, you need to have a musical you'd want to look at. To top that- one of the golden rules of musicals is to introduce your song as soon as possible, and not have to wait over 20 minutes for someone to sing. I suppose the singing is delayed to cram in as much "comedy" and material as possible for Kelsey Grammar. Luckily for him, the audience is on his side from the beginning and were happy to laugh along. When we finally get the number, it's Mr. Grammar, one of the weakest singers in the cast, who gets the first jab at a e terrific score (the only good thing about this production).

The entire piece is drab with no sense of excitement or theatre magic in the tales Edward Blooms shares. The entire set is a hospital room and emergency ward that is repurposed to accommodate to Edward's supposedly wild imagination, that only takes shape and form through Microsoft office screensaver. Not sure what the director did during development, because the entire thing was imagination free and with blocking that could be topped by high school productions. Some of the costumes were painful, especially the green ones that looked like Wicked's Emerald City costumes.

Kelsey Grammer was pretty good, though unnecessarily paired with the Jamie Muscato, who has a great voice and will get bigger and better roles in the future. I feel that the entire book was rewritten and split into old/story characters to accommodate to a star. Clare Burt is a fabulous actress, and her "I Don't Need A Roof" was wonderfully performed, if not well sung. Keeping my eyes on Tanisha Spring (Young Jenny). She's cute, got a voice, and killer abs. Forbes Masson was terrific and a standout comedian that made the most with the little he had to work with.

Missed opportunity.

Not at all, it’s my best musical of the year & shaping up to be the best of the year (I loved ‘A Christmas Carol’ last night which is another 2017 highlight) but ‘Big Fish’ was magical & moving..blew the park of most musicals in its emotional beauty!!

This is truly a critic proof show. Despite mediocre reviews the house is full most nights and on both occasions I've been, the audience rose for a spontaneous standing ovation. Yes it's corny and sentimental but Kelsey has amazing stage presence and the other lead cast members are excellent. A really enjoyable evening but maybe not for pretentious critics.

Agreed.  Particularly the more 'startery' ones. There was a yummy salad (hard to make that sound exicitng) and a great Crab dish.

Saw this tonight. What a journey it takes you on.

It lacks a brilliant score (some of the songs are a miss) but Time Stops and Daffodils were heaven.

I sobbed like a baby at the end. The worst I’ve ever been in a theatre.

What an ending, great story telling and performances. I just wish some of the score had been better.

How odd that there is no song at the beginning of act one and the first one is bad! Some work is needed but I loved it still. Four stars from me.

But then we are lucky to have you to balance things, clearly you are a man with no chips on his shoulders...

So you would prefer musicals to be reviewed by country-dwelling Tories who don't believe women should have the vote? That would ensure they had a finger on the pulse of West End audiences.

There is a man yelling at the staff her saying the name of the theatre is stupid.

I promise it's nothing to do with me, and there is never any reason to yell at a member of staff (unless I guess they've wilfully endangered you or something), but he's got a point. He's expressing it in an inexpressibly rude fashion and to completely the wrong person, but it is a stupid name.

I'm not the only one who cried uncontrollably at this am I?! Like, I cried more the second time!

This I know - but they were negative because of the musical itself. This is quite different. None of the reviews I’m sure were negative because of the themes of prostitution in either or the sexualisation and abuse of women etc...

My point is that many left wing, feminist or PC reviewers have a different narrative than they did two decades ago and I think (as in the case of Dogfight and Half a Sixpence-gate) is detrimental to the reviews they give.