Big Fish by Andrew Lippa is a musical based on John August’s movie screenplay by the same name and Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel titled Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. The musical exists in two different stories; The fantastic, somewhat fictional life of Edward Bloom (Anthony Kairouz) and his son Will Bloom (Reed Jones), who is about to start a family of his own and strives to find the reality behind his father’s tall tales before it is too late. Edward’s stories take him all around Alabama where he meets a beautiful mermaid, runs into a witch that shows him how he dies, has a close encounter with a surprisingly literate giant and meets the love of his life at the circus.
I shudder to think that we almost missed this outstanding high school production . It truly would have been the “Big Fish that got away.”
Weeks ago, our daughter informed me that she wanted to see the Laguna Hills High School (LHHS) Theater Department put on her new favorite musical. At her high school she is their Dramaturg, so she studies all sorts of things about theater and musicals. She was sure that I would love “Big Fish” like she does.
According to our schedules we could see it together closing night. That was fine for us, we love to attend theatre on closing night! We sat stage left, front row – fantail-tastic seats. The program was beautifully done and we started leafing through it.
Susan Lord, Director, writes in her program message, “I was hesitant to do a show that no one would know, but the story, the music, and the message won me over. We are focusing on the theme of discovering identifies and accepting people as they are, a theme that resonates with me and with the cast and crew.
In a literal sense, Edward works for years without pay just to find out the name of the cute girl he saw dancing at the circus. More figuratively, Will is struggling with what kind of a father he will be, and Karl the Giant finds a way to fit into the world. Most significantly, the central premise of the show is Will trying to discern fact from fiction in the stories his father, Edward, has told him his entire life. Will is ultimately faced with accepting his father for who he is before it’s too late. Beyond accepting others, we must learn to accept ourselves with all our faults and quirks. Often that is harder to do than accepting others, especially for teenagers. We need to follow Edward’s advice to Amos Calloway: “Just be yourself and be happy!” I believe this is what the writers intend to communicate with the recurring lines in the opening and closing scenes of the show: “Be the hero of your story.”
What she’s saying is, Any fin is possible if you don’t trout yourself!”
“Big Fish” was a 2003 American fantasy drama film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. If you saw it you would probably remember that Ewan McGregor plays the younger Edward Bloom and Albert Finney plays the older Edward. The musical has some different plot reveals than the movie. Both versions have the same basic stories that father Edward tells everyone. Both are about how the estranged father and son mend their relationship, before it’s too late! One would have to see the movie and the musical and use their own imagination to determine for themselves which version they prefer.
“Big Fish” the musical opened in a tryout at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, running from April 2, 2013 to May 5. The cast featured Norbert Leo Butz as Edward Bloom (original Fiyero in “Wicked”, two-time Tony Award winner for “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Catch Me If You Can”). Michael Dale of BroadwayWorld.com praised the musical’s clean humor. “Wholesomeness gets a bad rap on Broadway these days, usually regarded as the kind of unbearably sweet and inoffensive entertainment that sophisticated theatergoers must endure while taking their conservative grandmas out for a night on the town. […] But Big Fish, the new musical that tattoos its heart on its arm, displays no fear in plopping its unabashed wholesomeness right in your lap. Its spirit is steeped in Rodgers and Hammerstein decency that propels an evening that’s adventurous, romantic and, yeah, kinda hip.”
“Kairouz’s emotional and attention-grabbing portrayal of Edward lit up the stage with his charisma and charm. He flawlessly switched from the terminally ill older Bloom to the bombastic younger Bloom from scene to scene. Anthony was able to keep audiences on their toes and the energy of the production up the whole night, remarkable since he was on stage for most of the musical. His vocal performance of the difficult score was flawless from a sported belt to a high falsetto” – Brigitte Rose ANHS Student
Reoccurring imagery through light accentuates what is reality and what is Edward’s imagination. To begin the show, the image of father and son, in a montage as silhouetted figures in the distance, a father with his arm around his son will return at the end of the show signifying that everything in life comes full circle.
In real time, the stage lighting is more subdued. During Edward’s tales, the stage lights up with vivid exaggerated colors. It also seems that when Edward is happy the stage is blue and when he is troubled or in trouble the stage turns reddish purple.
With a great singing voice and genial southern charm, Anthony Kairouz portrays Edward Bloom. Kairouz has a keen understanding of character development for Edward. He seems to really live his zest for life and understand his pain. He goes back and forth seamlessly between the two Edwards. As an older exuberant man, who becomes feisty and lively during flashbacks to his youth, he jumps around, imitating sword play, he dances with his daughter-in-law at the wedding. Then through this range of talent Kairouz is the old and sick Edward, hunched and painfully clutching his side. His craft of the character is revealed throughout the show as we begin to see the different layers peel away. Towards the end, Kairouz meets the challenge of illuminating the audience through that always present life and death struggle as the human body finally breaks down.
After the LHHS production, we talked with Anthony Kairouz. He was so happy to have this oppor – tuna – ty to play the lead role of both young and older Edward. Anthony has played several diverse roles in LHHS productions such as Mr. Thenardier in “Les Miserables,” Lawrence in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and even young Jem Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He started his acting career in 8th grade as Lumiere in La Paz Intermediate’s production of “Beauty and The Beast.” Over the years, he has found that acting is his true passion. As we talked with Anthony and complimented him on his outstanding performance, he was very gracious and modest. He’s quite a guy!
Mary Buckels, grandmother of two students in the play and a big supporter of the LHHS program, shared her thoughts with us. She spoke so highly of Anthony, the cast and the director, Susan Lord. She said, “Susan is gifted and knows how to enlighten the youth she works with. She does a lot of voice coaching and with that one can really see over the years how the kids respond to that and gain a certainly quality of voice.” We also met Mary’s son, Brian Buckels, who has volunteered for more than six years helping with the sound system for each production. His wife Darla, along with numerous other parent volunteers, help with costuming.
Everyone we talked to wanted us to know how very talented Reed Jones is. Not only for his portrayal of Edward’s son (the older Will), but also for his contributions to lighting, set and projection design. He has been nominated for five Cappies Awards, and has also won several MACY awards, is a lead Cappie critic, is involved in the IB program, NHS and CSF Boards, all while maintaining a 4.5 GPA.
“Reed Jones not only perfectly executed the role of Will Bloom, he took to crew as head of lighting, projection, and sound design. Laguna High’s production included an interesting take on staging, using a projector for animated back drops. I was surprised to see Jones appear in the house during intermission to fix a small problem with the light bar” – Brigitte Rose ANHS Student
Other notable performers were: Mika Honda as the Witch. In her program bio she says she’s very grateful for her parents and three younger siblings for listening to her sing around the house all her life. She also thanks everyone who helped make this musical the best ever! Treyden Talbot plays the Giant. He has been in instrumental music for three years and Chamber Singers for two. He was in the pit orchestra last year for “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and this is his first year in the cast of a musical. He was very excited to be Karl the giant and to not have to dance very much. Abby Buckels (as Older Sandra) did very well with her part – lovely singing and delivering a very emotional solo towards the end when Edward is ill. She expressed how bittersweet she felt to be performing in her last show at Laguna Hills. She will never forget all the memoires and friendships she has made over the past four years in theater! Sabrina Astle, just a freshman, was outstanding in her role as the younger Sandra and her song and dance number with two friends ( Dani Grace and Siena Yusi) “Little Lamb from Alabama,” was fun to watch. One of my favorite numbers of the night. Last but not least was the scene stealer Eli Buckels. As a 10th grader, he still has many roles left to play and scene’s to steal at LHHS! After high school he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Jonah and pursue performing arts.
“Freshman Sabrina Astle’s performance as a young Sandra, Edward’s wife, was fresh and animated, from the bouncy musical number Little Lamb from Alabama to the delicate and heartwarming Time Stops. Intercut dance numbers by Choreographer Casey Johnson ranged from The “Alabama Stomp,” to tap, to a Wild West inspired group number. The stage was painted to look like wooden boards. Many theatre goers felt the stage to see if the boards were real or painted on. Makeup and costuming by Alexandria Campbell helped set the scene for this tall tale musical” – Brigitte Rose ANHS Student
Watching “Big Fish” was significant to me as I recently lost my own aged father. It was one of the most impassioned high school musicals that I have ever seen. There was not a dry eye in the audience at the end of the night. This started at the end of act one for me. I was glad to have a tissue in my purse. At the break, we spoke to our senior friend and crew member, Melanie Constandse. She said, “I hope you have more Kleenex because you are going to need them.” Boy, was she right. I couldn’t stop tearing up all through Act II and tears were falling freely through the last two musical numbers. I wasn’t the only one! The cast was experiencing charged emotions from this being the last night of the performance and the last production at LHHS for seniors… I don’t know how they made it through some of the songs… but they carried on like champs and got the job done in the most wonderful way.
Susan Espenschied
Publisher Aliso Laguna News/Green Local News
