Fun! It isn’t planned! It isn’t programmed! Though you may have to do some planning and programming to make sure you get this big ol’ dose of fun into your calendar sometime over the next couple weekends. See what I did there? ‘big ol’ musical?’ I’m talking about Big, of course, now appearing— making its area premiere— at Scottfield Theatre Company to close out their 2023 calendar. Based 20th Century Fox Film (of the same name, starring Tom Hanks, written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg), this catchy, whimsical, and fun-spirited musical is a rarely produced treat, if a product of its time. Directed & Choreographed by Becky Titelman, with Musical Direction by Benny Griese, this show is cute, charming, if a little dated, and an evening of carefree fun, gingerly sprinkled with some touching and heartwarming moments all throughout the performance.
Right off the bat we should address the big elephant in the room that is the libretto (book by John Widman, Music by David Shire, and Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.) because it’s one of the things that might leave people a little hesitant to come out and support the production. It isn’t overly problematic, like Head Over Heels or other poorly-adapted musicals (though having never seen the original film I can’t say how closely it sticks to its inspirational source material) but rather exudes superfluity in places that just make it lengthy. It was originally produced in 1996, which was not the Golden-Opera-Era of musicals that we have today. This was a time when they were still fine-tuning how to adapt a film to the stage and hadn’t quite figured out the finessed formula we have in use today. So you get a lot of musical numbers that, while fun or pretty-sounding, don’t advance the plot or even really make a whole lot of sense. And this doesn’t fall on the cast or creative team— they truly do make the best of it, singing and dancing and celebrating their way through these awkward and superfluous numbers. But bare that in mind as you go. The numbers aren’t so confusing as to throw-off the plot, but there’s a huge humor-ballad for Susan’s character, literally called “My Secretary’s In Love”, that serves zero purpose. We never meet the secretary, she’s not a character, and after this burst-out ballad (which isn’t even used to cover a major scene or costume change) the subject matter is never revisited again. The same is true for the lyrical composition of “Little Susan Lawrence” and “Coffee, Black.” With the first being a beautiful, torch song about irrelevant characters that once again never tie back to the plot and the latter being a great place for a dance break but not having a whole of functionality otherwise, you are left wondering what exactly was going through the minds of John Weidman and Richard Maltby Jr., almost 30 years ago. At any rate, don’t let the shabby book, misplaced numbers, and overall off-balance-ness of the show was written be a deterrent; there are some really impressive performances, the music itself is quite catchy, and the story— for the most part— is charming.
The set that Scottfield has put into use for this production leaves the audience with a few questions. Not so much the really impressively assembled New York City skyline backdrop (designed by Liz Marion and Tammy Oppel and assembled by Benjamin Marsh) but all of the extra moving pieces. There’s a bunk-bed tower, and a bunch of other things, used in scenes at the carnival, the toy store, and Josh’s apartment, that just seem a bit cumbersome when making their way on and off the stage. It’s not that a healthy, padded-out set isn’t appreciated or appropriate, but rather that it impacts the scene changes in this production, slowing down the pace of an already lengthy musical. Now it’s not hours and hours in darkness with the same track on ‘vamp-repeat’ but it definitely gives you pause and in several instances makes you wonder if somebody missed a cue because things are taking just a little too long to settle into place. Though hands, the absolute best part of the set (is this set? Is this a prop? A set-prop? It syncs with human sound and lights does that make it lighting and sounds’ credit? Everyone gets credit for this!) is the authentic ‘Zoltar Speaks’ machine that looks exactly like those ‘talking fortune booths’ from childhood. He’s only featured a handful of times (and voiced most spookily by James Meadows) but my goodness he’s wild!
The show a sling back to the late 80’s and you see it straight away in the excessive, but much appreciated, amount of denim on the stage. Costume Designers Liz Marion and Shannon Llyod-Ragan keep the aesthetic true to the tie period and you get to see some more of this in the big party at MacMillan Toys in the Act II finale. Backing up all of those rad 80’s threads and togs is the light work by way of Lighting Designer Patrick Yarrington. There’s a color-splash of rainbow flash runs during “Cross The Line” and a lot of nice mood lighting to set appropriate moments on the stage. The gobos Yarrington uses during “Stars” get washed away, and the placement of the planetarium is unfortunately too far forward in bright stage lights so you don’t get that effect (it just feels like a missed opportunity not to program actual star-print gobos, keep the stationary, dim the main lighting and flood both the house and the stage to really illuminate this number.) Aesthetically, the show is well-rounded and for the most part, the sound balance (Sound Designer Scott Harclerode) is kept on an even keel. If there were moments where the track-music overtook the singers, it was entirely unnoticeable.
Despite some of the sluggish scene changes, Director Becky Titelman brings together a strong cast with solid performers in all of the principal roles as well as in the ensemble. You get multi-purpose ensemble folk like Sam Ranocchia playing drunken office executives, drunken hobos, and drunken carnie men at the carnival and he catches your eye in a humorous, scene-chewing sort of way. And then you have Titelman’s choreography, which is like an ensemble character all on its own. This show doesn’t have a lot of room for big, splashy routines, so you get little moments of carefully choregraphed movements, like during “Welcome to MacMillan Toys” which features a march-n-twirl routine from the execs. Where the choreography is splashy and shiny is the crazy dance-off during “Cross The Line” at the end of Act I and again near the top of Act II during “Coffee, Black.” You even get a three-person tap-feature (Michelle Hosier, Laura May, and Liz Marion, who is hiding out in the ensemble at this point because her Mrs. Baskin-character isn’t a part of most of the middle of the show.) And then you get some Disney-inspired mug-clanging too. One of the most entertaining bits of choreo you get to see during this production is actually the routine that opens the second act, “It’s Time”, a number featuring Billy (Sullivan Rhoads) and The Kids (London Blankenship, Olivia Huth, Ellie Lions, Angelina Sibiski,) they put that 80’s freestyle fun-rap into play and it’s a real treat.
Olivia Huth, who may be a hip-hop dancing kid at the top of Act II, also doubles as Young Josh and really holds her own against the slightly wonky script and lyrics, making all of the dorky, adorable mistakes that 12-year-olds make. Channeling her inner boy (the show came out in the 90’s and is set in the 80’s when gender was a lot less-fluid), Huth really nails this youthful rascal in her momentary portrayals, particularly in the opening with all of the angsty tween ‘tude being shouted at Mrs. Baskin. Huth ad Rhoads, playing the aforementioned Billy, have an unbelievably cool super-secret-handshake and it’s impressive to watch them execute it. (I feel like if I tried that I’d just fall over!) You also get a great sampling of Huth’s vocal capabilities during “Can’t Wait” and “Talk To Her”, the latter of which has Rhoads’ Billy trying to encourage Young Josh to talk to Cynthia (a totally cool eighth grader played by London Blankenship.)
The rest of the ensemble— featuring Lauren Beward, London Blankenship, Beth Dallaire, Alana Guardipee, Michelle Hosier, Olivia Huth, Ellie Lyons, James Meadows, Laura May, Pamela Provins, Sam Ranocchia, Angelina Sibiski, Sarah Ulrich, Chris Williams— is loaded with energy and pizazz. You get to see this exhibited most frequently among the executives of MacMillan Toys during “Coffee, Black.” (Which I so desperately keep wanting to type “Coffee Break” from H2$, though that’s a very different number.) Keep you eye on the aforementioned, recurring tipsy characters played by Sam Ranocchia, as well as Laura May, who doesn’t play drunk but rather the stoic Miss Watson (again I feel like she’s channeling Miss Jones, Bigley’s secretary from the previously mentioned H2$.) Her zippy quips, particularly when fussing “don’t play with that, it’s a toy!” is hilarious and she joins the tap-line during “Coffee, Black” showcasing her dance-skills.
In an off-beat, quirky 80’s-set musical, you’d hardly expect to find a quartet of operatic quality, harmonizing their hearts out (much less a song where they were able to do that, but like I said, the finesse of creating this musical from a stylistic standpoint simply didn’t exist in the mid-90s.) but in Big you have exactly that. In the second Act, Susan takes Josh to dinner to meet her friends and the dizzying quartet of “The Real Thing” begins. Crystaline, crisp voices meticulously drip through this number (while the number itself sounds a little like it belongs in G-GLAM) and you’re simply blown away by their vocal quality, tonal beauty, and perfect articulation. The quartet of friends, featuring Diane, Abigail, Tom, and Nick (played respectively by Sara Ulrich, Alana Guardipee, James Meadows, and Chris Williams) is simply divine. Their voices blend into the ensemble otherwise, but when they present this feature quartet, “The Real Thing” it is truly astonishing and peppered with hilarity (even if the song itself feels like it belongs in a different musical. David Shire and Richar Maltby Jr. lack the finesse and cohesivity of someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber when trying to blend vastly differing musical styles they way they do in Big.)
Liz Marion, as Mrs. Baskin, has the underrated, cameo feature in this production, channeling her mom-frustrations perfectly. They utilize Marion beyond her cast role, doubling her around in the ensemble and featuring her as a tap-person, which is smart considering how limited the role of Mrs. Baskin is and how talented Marion is. But her number, “Say Good Morning to Mom” is really the perfect hybrid of pretty sound and irked-frustrations spewing out into the lyrics, a combination that Marion handles divinely. You get the grounded, emotionally steeped number from Marion’s character just after the zany kid-rap at the top of Act II. Marion puts her whole heart into “Stop, Time” and it’s a really beautiful, sincere moment.
It all comes down Josh Baskin (Jake Schwartz) and the chaos that ensues once his Zoltar-wish comes true. From the moment that Schwartz springs out of bed in his childhood home (which is arguably a way better way to make that transition from Young Josh to Big Josh…because the way they handle it at the end was just anti-climactic, disappointing, and not clever. Whether its scripted that way or this was Titelman’s choice is unclear but given all of the stage-magic-effects and options that could have been used for this transition at the end, the way it was handled fell flat. At any rate— from jump-street, you get Schwartz having this juvenile explorative, expressiveness about him and it’s wild. Watch his body language and his face, he’s truly mastered this notion of being a startled 12-year-old suddenly existing inside a grown-up body. And you get this experience frequently throughout the production. Even as the Josh Baskin character grows ‘emotionally’ into ‘grown-up-stuff’, Schwartz never loses sight of the fact that he’s still 12/13 and that sense of youthful wonder and confusion carries heartily all throughout his performance.
Schwartz is given a run for his money by Meg Smith, who plays Susan Lawrence, the— I hesitate to call her ‘love interest’ but that’s basically how she gets wrapped into this— as Smith vocally dominates all of her musical numbers. The Susan-character has the most superfluous numbers in the show but that doesn’t stop Smith from nailing them. When she bursts onto the scene, flanked by (the not-very-developed or even well-scripted antagonizing-villain) Paul Seymour, (played with grumpy gusto by Haydn Floros) for “My Secretary’s In Love” you wonder what on earth this girl is singing about because she’s belting it with all her might. She sells this number and bowls you over with her vocal prowess and sheer charisma that you don’t even realize until intermission that that number is completely insane and has no place in this show. You get a fully fleshed-out character portrayal with Smith’s Susan, which is refreshing considering how little of that there is in the book itself. Her quirky number, “Let’s Not Move Too Fast” is really a trip, while her torch song (however misappropriately directed thanks to the poor lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.) “Little Susan Lawrence” is truly beautiful and exists as one of the most emotionally earnest (albeit lyrically confusing) moments in the show.
Whenever Smith duets with Schwartz, or they share scenes together it’s a real treat. Their voices compliment one another for songs like “Stars” and “We’re Going to Be Fine” and the chemistry they share is really wild to watch. Schwartz, who keeps that indefatigable youthful exuberance about him at all times, really makes the interactions with Smith’s Susan both hilarious and heartfelt. And he’s got a fantastic voice as well. Finding the balance between acting like a kid trapped in a grown-up’s body, whilst imbuing those childlike feelings and sensations into the lyrics but still vocally allowing your real adult singing voice to shine through with clarity, tonal control, and power is a tall order, one which Schwartz more than lives up to. You really get the sense of his vocal capabilities during “I Want to Go Home” and “Big.” There’s also a physically fun component to Schwartz’ portrayal, which you get to witness in perpetual action, opposite Mr. MacMillan (Chris Barsam) during “Fun”, which features the iconic, frenetic piano-hop-dance, a routine which both fellas execute with great energy. Jake Schwartz would do Tom Hanks proud and he’s certainly given more to the role than John Weidman (librettist) gave him to work with.
Fun can be elusive and disappear— you don’t want Big: The Musical, which is truly a whole lot of fun, to disappear on you before you have a chance to see it! Two weekends only at The Havre de Grace Opera House! Don’t miss out!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission
Big: The Musical plays through November 12th 2023 with Scottfield Theatre Company currently in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.
