Review of Big Fish (Broadway in Chicago)

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Big Fish. It was about this guy named Will (Bobby Steggert) whose father Edward (Norbert Leo Butz) was dying and Will's wife Josephine (Krystal Joy Brown) was pregnant and she was coming with him to see his father before he died. It was really sad because he was really really sick. His father tells a lot of stories that are kind of untrue. Most of the stories were about how he and his wife Sandra (Kate Baldwin) met. The main plot of the story is to not have the father die painfully; when he died they wanted it to be pleasant and have a lot of people who cared about him to be around. Will changes his mind to not be angry at his dad anymore because they had a fight at his wedding because his dad was telling stories that were not true. I loved this show because it was really touching and hilarious and all the actors were really great.

One of my and my mom's favorite parts was the circus where there were these elephant butts dancing. There are three options of what these elephant tushes were. They could have been puppets. They could have been robots. Or they could have been real elephants, except that I didn't hear backstage breaking while the show was going on. I wish there were actual elephants back there, but I think that is pretty unlikely. I think that it must have been puppets because the steps were so perfect that they needed an actual human to do them. I loved these elephant behinds because they were so awesome and when they opened the curtain to show the elephant butts, I was so amazed. I was laughing hysterically.

This is the best kind of transportation to go to college that Edward uses: which is a c-a-n-o-n. Canon! It seemed like he was actually going up in the air because they made a pixel version of him and made it go all the way up into the sky and then it came all the way back down into the college where his love was going to college. They were using a screen behind it. I liked it because it was so funny to see him come all the way back down into the college.

They put all of these daffodils on stage because Edward really wanted Sandra to marry him and those were her favorite flowers. And Sandra finally did say "Ok, I'll marry you" because the guy Don Price (Ben Crawford) who was jealous of Edward was beating him up and she kept saying "Stop! Stop! Stop!" And then she said something along the lines of, "Well, you just beat him up, so I prefer him to you." And she gave back the ring Don had given her. I think it was super adorable that they sang this beautiful song about daffodils.

There was this one scene where the mom, Sandra, was holding the dad in her arms and she was singing this song called "I Don't Need a Roof" and I was sobbing. It was so touching and sad. It was so sad that he was dying. And I am actually about to cry right now, but I think I am going to be able to finish this paragraph. I think she did some really good singing. She was so good that she made me feel so sad for her. The singing was just lovely and so touching I couldn't believe it.

There was a song I really liked and it was called "Start Over." And there was this really funny part where Karl (Ryan Andes) had become a businessman and there was a giant lady--because Karl was a giant--sitting on his desk. And he had found a lady of his own--and I was so excited that he had a girlfriend that I was about to scream and jump for joy. And, also, when Edward came back to the town, he found his old girlfriend Jenny Hill (Kirsten Scott) there. He had to save her from being drowned in the flood. I liked that he found his girlfriend and they were just friends and they didn't have an affair like Will thought. This wasn't one of Edward's crazy, insane, and totally unreal stories. This was something that he really did. (Or one of his old girlfriend's crazy, insane stories!)

People who would like this show are people who like songs that are super sad and touching, people who are shot out of canons as a bus to college, and big fishes. And did I mention elephant butts? People should go see this show because it makes you have lots of different emotions and has great singing and the actors are really good at expressing the characters' feelings. I think this show is ready for Broadway!

Photos: Paul Kolnik