Matthew Seadon-Young and Kelsey Grammer in Big Fish at The Other Palace, London. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Big Fish continues at The Other Palace until 31 December.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Few stories cry out for a musical adaptation more than Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel – and Tim Burton’s 2003 movie – Big Fish.
It’s a whopper of a tale, recounted as a series of fantastical flashbacks in the life of protagonist Edward Bloom, and one that lends itself to the joyously expressionistic medium of the musical.
And in the hands of Broadway composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa, and book writer John August, it’s an enchanting affair, made all the more magical in director Nigel Harman’s UK premiere at The Other Palace.
The big name on the poster is US TV star Kelsey Grammer, best known for his role as Frazier Crane in the eponymous sitcom and its predecessor Cheers. But this is no indulgent showcase or shameless piece of stunt casting – Grammer is merely one (admittedly wonderful) part of a dream company and graciously gives his fellow performers all the space and room they need to shine.
Grammer plays the seemingly confabulist Bloom, who, on his deathbed, is confronted by his son Will (the excellent Matthew Seadon-Young), a father-to-be desperate to reconcile Edward’s tall tales with the truth.
Listening in is Will’s sympathetic wife Josephine (Frances McNamee) and his mother Sandra (Clare Burt), who also become caught up in the storytelling.
As each ripping yarn is spun, we follow the younger Edward (the inexhaustible and ever-reliable Jamie Muscato) in flashback as he encounters, among others, a Witch (Landi Oshinowo), Karl the Giant (Dean Nolan), a mermaid (Sophie Linder-Lee) and the lycanthropic ringmaster Amos (the show-stealing Forbes Masson).
These fable-like reminiscences are presented as musical vignettes and they are, without exception, a joy to behold. Musically, it’s top-notch: there’s no doubting Lippa can write a tune and tell a story in song, confirming him as one of the most credible successors of Stephen Sondheim writing today. It helps having MD Alan Berry and his seven-piece band on hand to give his songs the best possible support.
The performances are also faultless – Grammer is perfectly cast as the chimerical Bloom, even if he and the rest of the company are upstaged by the hilarious Masson (whose first entry as Amos stopped the show).
Director Harman displays a masterful understanding of theatricality, conjuring up endlessly inventive ways of recounting Bloom’s stories.
The holy quartet of Tom Rogers’ hospital-inspired set design, Bruno Poet’s lighting, Duncan McLean’s gorgeous projections and Avgoustos Psillas’ and Luke Swaffield’s sound design combine to bring the magical realism vividly to life, and you can’t help but be swept along by the beauty of the storytelling.
Big Fish has a huge heart and is a surprisingly affecting musical – one of those rare cases in which the musical theatre form augments and intensifies the original storytelling.
It had the audience in tears by the end, yet it’s ultimately uplifting and spiritually refreshing, even at times laugh-out-loud funny.
It occasionally borders on the cheesy and saccharine but it’s always self-aware and doesn’t take itself too seriously. And anyway, who doesn’t like a good cheesecake!? Don’t miss it.
Craig Glenday
Tickets for Big Fish The Musical are available HERE.
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.