Secrets are the backbone of society. Everybody ought to have a few. And Frederick has got at least one— Other Voices Theatre, tucked away up off Jefferson Street in the Performance Factory. And that little secret is currently producing Big Fish: Small Cast Edition as their 2024/2025 season opener. Directed by Andrew Lloyd Baughman, with Musical Direction by Lisa Dodson, and Choreography by Donna Grim, this modern-day fantasy exploration musical is oddly charming and heartwarming.
There are a couple of factors in play with this production that could use a hint of polishing— mainly with lights and the use of projections— but these tech-value-hiccups aside, director Andrew Baughman puts together a decent show with good talent, strong heart, and an excellent sense of pacing. Scenes and musical numbers move swiftly along, dovetailing in and out of one another, which is a unique challenge in the black box stage-space of The Performance Factory. Christine Levy is the show’s Set Designer and she keeps it simple by teaming up with Properties master Pat Dickinson— a multi-purpose bed, some stools when needed, and the ever-useful four-panel ‘medical screen.’ Said screen actually gets rolled and separated quite a bit, creating a really unique staging space. The other impressively cool thing about the set is the background portraiture that hangs like an art gallery installment with five separate pieces. Scenic Artists Christine Levy, Jeff Elkins, and Jeanne Lloyd have composed five different pictures (with marquee lighting bulbs around the frames) one for the witch, the mermaid, the giant, the tornado, and the flood-waters— all of which have this intentional juvenile quality to their aesthetic, almost like the imagination of what could be young Will having finger-painted them from his father’s tall-tales— and they are highlighted with color-change bulbs whenever the stories inside their respective frame come into play down on the stage. There should also be a shout-out to Dickinson’s canon (chimerical garbage can on wheels) and the ‘Edward Bloom’ that gets shot out of it. It’s an honest-to-Dionysus ‘suspension of theatrical disbelief’ moment but it’s so perfect for this show it deserves its own nod of praise.
Where the show hits its major hiccup is with Lighting Designers Dean Myers and Stephen Craig. It’s not that their lighting tactics are ill-utilized— there are some really lovely color washes in certain moments. And there are some good projections— particularly whenever they put water on the hospital-panel screen or use it to show Josephine’s ultrasound— it’s just at times when they attempt to combine the two, it isn’t as effective as I think they’re hoping for it to be. At the end of Act I, the big beautiful wall of projected daffodils (in addition to being slightly out of focus but that could likely be adjusted) gets completely washed away by the over-head yellow-light effect. And whatever shadow-goodbyes are being done behind the hospital screen during “The Procession” are not being backlit correctly so the cool poses and moves that each character are striking aren’t being clearly displayed on the front of the screen. There are also times when it feels like projections could have been used and were not— like during “The River Between Us” which would have been an excellent moment to put some moving water (like they use whenever Edward Bloom is at the water’s edge) into play. It’s somewhat of a mixed bag with lighting and projections but ultimately not a detrimental degradation from the overall production.
Where the show hits its other major snag is with Edward Bloom himself. To be explicitly clear, Bob Gudauskas sings the role well, even performing some complex vocal acrobatics around certain numbers where the notes in those songs seem to linger right at his range break. He emotes in his songs well and the relationship components that he is portraying both with Sandra as his wife and Will and Young Will (as his son in differing eras of time) are convivial and feel earnest. What Gudauskas lacks is the ‘big fish’ component of the character. He’s never larger than life. You never feel like his Edward Bloom is taking up all the air in the room, all the space in the stage, and honestly he reads more like Willy Loman than Edward Bloom. Right up until you get to the big cathartic release song, “How It Ends” where Gudauskas is belting soul out, pouring his heart out in cataclysmic waves, but because he’s been so small as a character in his own story up to that point, it just feels unearned like it came out of nowhere. And if this is a clever directorial choice in an attempt to subvert the narrative and fit the quirkier vibe that accompanies the ‘small cast’ licensed edition of the show, it doesn’t read cleanly or feel like it services the overall narrative in a way that does the story justice. Gudauskas is present and clearly emotionally invested, especially when singing “Fight the Dragon.” And he has that hint of southern Alabama twang that suits the character just fine; it’s just he never quite reads as the ‘Big Fish’ that Edward Bloom is written to be.
Sound balance is a challenge in any black-box space but Sound Designer Abreana Porter and Music Director Lisa Dodson do their best to overcome the issues that The Performance Factory provides. The drop mics seem to function well, though it’s mostly Gudauskas who isn’t being picked up by them (both when singing and speaking.) Otherwise, Porter and Dodson make a decent team to fill the stage and the space with the sound of dozens, when in reality this particular edition only uses 13 people (12 but they’ve split the role of Young Will and doubled up the split as an ensemble member when he’s not playing Young Will.) The pacing of the musical numbers across the board is clean, the sounds are well blended, and the balance between tracks and singing is clear. Choreographer Donna Grim takes a simple approach— a lot of box stepping throughout the performance but the “Alabama Stomp” which makes its way into “Be The Hero” from the opening number is pretty nifty.
Everyone in the show except Edward Bloom doubles up at some point as an ensemble in addition to being a named character (part of the beauty of the ‘small cast’ edition.) And this lends itself nicely to the ‘fantasy’ component of the libretto. Particularly as there are moments in ‘flashback’ where live-time characters are sitting and watching the story unfold but then also find themselves as background players in those moments. This is particularly true for Josephine (Laura Hepp Saunders) who does get to showcase her vocal strength during “Just Take Another Look” and blends well with the ensemble-townsfolk during numbers like “Start Over.” Andrew Shifler, who plays the down-to-earth Doctor Bennett and the agog-fisherman during “Be The Hero” (and doubles up as the bearded lady at the circus) is another such performer. You get Katie Barnett in the role of Zacky Price in this vein as well, though she’s much more hidden among the ‘ensemble’ when she appears elsewhere.
You get a saucy, smooth lounge-singer sound out of Becca Sears Mills as The Witch. She only gets one song in which to really strut her stuff— “I Know What You Want”— but it’s a powerful musical moment and she owns it. So too could be said for Michelle Boizelle as The Mermaid, although the mermaid character doesn’t get her own song. Boizelle gets doubled up as Jenny Hill, who has a sweet vibrato-laced voice that you get to hear during her gushy eponymous love song. Boizelle and Mills double up as the little lambs from Alabama dancing and singing alongside Sandra during “The Little Lamb from Alabama.”
There’s a vicious gator snap to Christopher Holden, playing Don Price, whenever he talks— even when the lines coming out of the character’s mouth are dumber than a sack of bricks— and you get to see Holden double up as ‘the strong man’ during the circus scenes. There’s something wildly fanciful about seeing Lee Rosenthal play Amos Calloway and Alexandra Faye play Karl the Giant. You get snake-oil charm but only lightly lubricated from Rosenthal, especially when she speak-sings her way through “Closer to Her” and the vocal affectation and choice that Faye is making for Karl is sublime, which adds to the whimsy of the overall existence of the character.
You get a precious attitude from Rye Kircher (who at this performance plays Young Will. The role is shared with Legend Houldsworth.) Spunky and totally disbelieving of his father’s tall tales, Kircher does have some really plucky moments that are most enjoyable to watch, particularly when he joins his father for the song “Fight the Dragon.” He also pops to life as the yet-unnamed son of Will at the show’s conclusion and you get the sense that he is both the same young lad that was once Will Bloom but still also a completely different character all at the same time.
There is some true vocal beauty resonating out of Chrissy Barnett Miller as Sandra. And they do an excellent job of making her look just ‘that much older’ with glasses and a hint of makeup for when she’s meant to be aged and grown with Edward in the present times. Her vocals are sublime and heartfelt for “I Don’t Need a Roof.” And you get another delightful taste of her glorious sound during “Magic in the Man.” She’s congenial and honest and you feel her emotions readily, steady like a flowing river, without all of the insanity that’s meant to surround her tall-tale-telling husband.
Will Bloom (Lance Teller) has somehow become the narrative force in this production. Whether that was an intentional directional choice from Baughman or something that just arose in the process of the ‘small cast’ edition, is unclear, but you almost feel like this is much more Teller’s story as Will than it is the story of Edward Bloom. Teller has a commanding stage presence, despite his subtleties. You won’t be able to take your eyes off of him. And his vocals are stellar. Top tenor, bright and warm, and you really get a sense of his emotional turmoil every step of the way. “Stranger” is this beautiful loaded number that Teller delivers divinely and his half of “The River Between Us” is stunning. You feel alive and real and awake in the moment with Teller, every step of his journey.
A solid effort, strong performances, and some really wonderful sounds coming from this eager group of performers, all good reasons to come out and be the hero of your own story by supporting local theatre! Catch Big Fish before it swims away later on this month.
Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Big Fish plays through October 13th 2024 with Other Voices Theatre Other Voices Theatre at The Performance Factory— 244-B South Jefferson Street in Frederick, MD. Tickets are available by calling the box office at (301) 662-3722 or by purchasing them in advance online.
