Big, The Musical 1998
When frustrated adolescent Josh Baskin wishes he were "big" and wakes up the next morning a 30 year old man, he discovers there's much more to being an adult than he'd bargained for - and learns we must all grow up at our own pace, in our own time. A witty, moving, insightful book and a dazzling, energetic, heartfelt, contemporary score make this already classic motion picture fantasy into an unforgettable theatrical experience. Musical Numbers
Can't Wait - Young Josh, Mrs Baskin, Billy, Children and parents Talk To Her/ The Carnival - Young Josh, Billy, Cynthia, Cynthia's Friends, Mr. Baskin, Mrs. Baskin, Zoltar, Ensemble This Isn't Me - Josh I Want To Go Home - Josh Say Good Morning to Mom - Mrs. Baskin Big Boys - Billy, Josh The Time Of Your Life - Salespeople Fun - MacMillan, Josh Dr. Deathstar - The Deathstarrettes Welcome to MacMillan Toys - Executives Here We Go Again - Susan Welcome to MacMillan Toys - Part 2 - Josh, Billy, Paul, Susan, Execs, MacMillan Stars, Stars, Stars - Josh, Susan Let's Not Move Too Fast - Susan Do You Want To Play Games? - Josh, Susan Little Susan Lawrence - Susan Tavern Foxtrot - Paul and Company Cross The Line - Josh, Kids, MacMillan, Grown-ups Outta Here! - Billy Stop, Time - Mrs. Baskin Happy Birthday, Josh - Children Dancing All The Time - Susan I Want To Know - Young Josh, Josh Coffee, Black - Josh, Susan, MacMillan, Executives The Real Thing - Diane, Abigail, Tom, Nick The Real Thing (reprise) - Susan Once Special Man - Susan When You're Big - Josh We're Gonna Be Fine - Susan, Josh Skateboard Romance - Children I Want to Go Home I Stars, Stars, Stars - Susan and Josh PACE Theatrical Group, Inc. & Magicworks Entertainment
book by music by lyrics by JOHN DAVID RICHARD WEIDMAN SHIRE MALTBY, JR starring JIM JACQUELYN RON NEWMAN PIRO HOLGATE NICK BRETT JOSEPH DEMAREE COKAS TA BISEL MEDEIROS ALEXANDER
and JUDY McLANE
KEVIN BERNARD MATTHEW BREINER SHERRI EDELEN BEVERLY EDWARDS DALE HENSLEY JOHN HOSHKO JULIE KLEINER BRUCE LINEBERRY DANA LYNN MAURO JOE PAPARELLA ANDREW REDEKER DES TA SHERIDAN KELLEY SWAIM LESLIE STEVENS BRANCH WOODMAN
scenic design costume design lighting design sound design ZACK WILLIAM KEN PETER BROWN IVEY LONG BILLINGTON FITZGERALD orchestrations by production musical director musical director/conductor dance music arrangements DOUGLAS DON CONSTANTINE MICHAEL BESTERMAN PIPPIN KITSOPOULOS MORRIS
casting assistant director production stage manager musical coordinator STUART HOWARD &: FRANK BILL WILLIAM AMY SCHECTER, CSA LOMBARDI ROBERTS MEADE executive producer general management national press representative BETH NIKO THERESA SMITH ASSOCIATES BURTON
choreography by KARMA CAMP J
directed by ERIC D. SCHAEFFER
Originally produced on Broadway by JAMES B. FREYDBERG, KENNETH FELD, LAURENCE MARK, KENNETH GREENBLATT in association with FAO SCHWARZ - FIFTH AVENUE
based on the Motion Picture "big" written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg a TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX film Volume 1, Issue 2 9 "B15.""'. IS a ..' USIC8 . I about a boy who wishes he show in Detroit hung a sign on us: tbat we were a were big. Around the time "Big" hit Broadway, commercial enterprise that was designed to sell there were probably those associated with the toys. (A toy store features prominently in the show who wished perhaps parts of it weren't so story.) F.A.0. Schwarz became a sponsor (of the big. show) after we had finished writing it and was The musical has had a rocky joilmey to the ready to go to rehearsals. After the sign got hung, stage. It was'_inspired by the 1988 film starring it never got unhung and there wasn't anything we Tom Hariks:about a boy named Josh who, could do about it." · • ~cal Maltby acknO\vledge('f there were~~ in spell:be~ the Broadway version oftti:e sh~ that grown-up p,hysi didn't work, especially some of the big, visual Cally, before;realiz things: "The number of things that seemed nec ing that being a kid essary at the time were actually unriecessary. We = isn't so bad~ found ourselves in a very elaborate set, which Actress Didi co~dn't do some of the things we'd written - i= Conn, wife of com transitions and things like that. Also.we'd decided poser David
'Big' Tabisel's routine is to "hang out for a little while" after the show ends at 10:40 p.m., "get up, go to Musical take school from 10 to 3," and then get ready for the show. By day, on 1988 film he's in 10th grade, studying biology and geometry. By night, hits the stage he's a musical theater star, re creating his Broadway . role as By DIANE WRIGHT best friend and sidekick tt>·Josh. Herald Writer His roles have ranged from "NYPD Blue" - "I playec,l a dead This is a chance kid," he says, "You basically lay most kids would die for, down, act dead · and don't do things your folks breathe" - to a national tour of would not allow. "Peter Pan" at the age of 9. His No one's barking, Broadway debut in "Big" earned Wait until you're older. him a Tony award nomination. Look at you, DGing comedy· in a wide· you're a big boy now. ranging, happy show like "Big," he says, is different from film -From "Big" and television. It takes over Brett Tabisel (left) and Jim Newman star in "Big." acting, for one thing. "Your ges hen Jim Newman tures are bigger, your voice is found he was going to louder," he says. play Josh, a child and stick com up his nose in Broadway in "Steel Pier;" dealing with the grown-up world Co-star Newman's hard-won Wtrapped in a man's "Big," which opens on tour "Sunset Boulevard" and "The was a surprise hit in the 1988 advice has more to do with body in the musical version of Tuesday (for a run through Who's Tommy," stars with movie season. So mud) so that living than with acting. "Big," he fell back on some sure March 1) at Seattle's Paramount Jacquelyn Piro, an actress who theater producers began eyeing "My advice always to actors, fire research. Oh, he studied the Theater. has been in "Miss Saigon" and it as a stage musical. ' is to have a life/' he says. "This young actor playing the child Newman, who plays the lead, "Les Miserables," and Ron Hol One of the show's two is what you do, but it's not who Josh, and he talked to his teen says Josh teaches the grown-ups gate, a veteran of such youths, Brett Tabisel, $ays the you are. It's a career that can age nephew, "who is 14 and in his life never to let go of that Broadway shows as "42nd message is simple: B~ careful beat you down. Self-worth going through that phase where child, to be open to "all the possi Street" and "Guys & Dolls." what you ask for. 1 plummets when they say 'thank he likes girls and is incredibly bilities that life gives you. We The team of Richard Maltby, "It's about making a wish," you, that will be all.... Eighty shy and girls are like alien have all these walls built up: lyricist for "Miss Saigon," and he says. "Watch out What you percent of your job is rejection. beings," he says. "But mostly, I what's the right thing, what's David Shire, who won a wish for; you might not want it. So you think, 'This is just what I tried to lock .in to being as appropriate. Susan (big Josh's Grammy for "Saturday Night By the end of the story, he do, like a lawyer, or an accoun honest as I could. I decided just girlfriend) has climbed the cor Fever," did the lyrics and music comes around; he tbinks he tant.' " be Jim Newman when he was porate ladder and become hard for "Big," and about 50 percent wants to be a kid again.b "Big" - A musical version of 13. I was short, a late bloomer, ened, and she meets someone of the show features new Tabisel lives a kind of dual the Tom Hanks movie; opening the youngest of four kids, goofy, who has no walls, no defenses. musical numbers, many cut out existence himself. Art re-creates at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Para trying to get attention." She learns to let life in, don't be before the Broadway opening. life as Tabisel and Joseph mount Theatre in Seattle for a So that's why he gets to so afraid. It's better to keep Josh's adventures trying to Medeiros, who plays young run through March 1. Tickets: dance on piano keys, use a bed trusting, even if you get burned." hold down a job in a toy store, Josh, "grow up" every night to $25-$45 by calling 206-292- as a trampoline, spit food out Newman, who was on living in New York City and take on major stage roles. 2787. T~ng company will light up Paramount stage in a simply 'big' way . By ,JOE ADCOCK The beat from the wreckage. P-1 l'HEATER cRmc Lyricist Richard Maltby Jr., com- poser David Shire and playwright esop said it in one of his they want. They don't know what they O ntEATER fables: "We would often be want. John Weidman went back to their • Movie "Big" as a musical: I respective computers and came up sorry if our wishes were "In playing Josh, stick with with a small "Big" - a transformation The musical adaptation of the film granted." Oscar Wilde said it honesty and spont~neity. Like he indicated by the lowercase letters in "Big" i.s playing at Seattle's Para in his comedy "An Ideal shows up at this office. And he bumps A the title. The touring production's $1.8 mount Theatre, 911 Pine St. It has Husband": "When the gods wish to into Susan, a female executive. She million budget is abour 10 percent of orli.W,aJ, lYl'!c!>-....bY. ijAchp,rd-Mal~ · punish us, they answer our prayers." drops some papers, he picks them up. ,. Jr., who co-authored th~ lyrfcs f'?r And Josh demonstrates it in "Big" and He asks her what she does. She says the Broadway investment. A giant half-ton, $100,000 piano equipped with I "Miss Saigon," and music by David "big." she's in charge of m~rketing , He asks multicolored lights is gone. And so is a Shire. It will run through March 1. is the 13-year-old hero of if that means she gets the groceries. J~h chorus of kids. This time around, the Performances are .at 8 p.m. Tuesday "Big," the 1988 movie starring Tom "He's not being ·a wise-ass. He's through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday Hanks, and "big," the touring musical not trying to be cool. To him 'market' cast numbers 19 rather than 31. The show runs through March 1 and Sunday, and 7 p.m. Sunday. starring Jim Newman based on the is the supermarket \where his mom Tickets are $23 to $45. movie. "Big," the musical, opens Tues- buys groceries. At first it's horribly at the Paramount. Tickets are $23-$45, dis~u_nts for~ 206-292-2787. For more information, call (206) day at the Paramount Theatre for a gauche, a real faU¥ pas. But then 622-7744. two-week run. Susan actually falls~· love with Josh's Newman's job is to portray a 13- innocence. It's refr hing. She feels year-old in a 33-year-old's body. like she's dated eve phony faker in Young Josh has a desperate wish to be New York, and here this completely "big." He wakes up one morning and open and honest, si le guy." his prayer has been answered. "Big," the musica1, has itself be-. "I'm 33, so the body part is easy," come more simple since it opened Newman said in a recent phone (and closed) on Broadway a year and interview from Costa Mesa, Calif., a half ago. In New York, "Big" ran for where ''big" was playing last week. six months and !dirt 1ts backers' total "As for the acting, well, I just remem- invesqnent, $10.3 million. One of ber Jim Newman at 13. I grew up in a those investors, Paee Theatrical, a little redneck town outside of Birming- Houston concern devoted to stage ham, Ala. I was the youngest of four to~rs, decided to salvage what it could kids; a late bloomer, eager for atten- - tion. I would think I was being funny, - but maybe no one else did. "When I auditioned for 'big,' I tried to show a kidlike quality. I started in a suit and tie I had Velcroed on. I tore them off and underneath was a skateboarder's jacket. I put on a New York Yankees cap. I got out a yo yo and did some tricks I had practiced And, I threw a paper airplane out over the auditioners' heads. All this while I'm singing 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' with revised lyrics. "In an audition, you have to make strong choices and take risks. Just be dynamic, be exciting, make a lasting impression. You can't try to be what
Photo/Carol Rose ,Jim Newman and Jacquelyn Piro perform in the natio~al tou! of the all-new musical "Big," directed by.Eric Schaeffer, with lyrics and music by Richard Maltby Jr.hand h David Shire. The musical will come to the Paramount Theatre Feb. 17 throug Mar/· 1. For ticket information. call 292-2787. 1Jig· cut down to size by a stale sCore :, 4 . BIG voice first has to compete with At the Paramount Theater, 911 Pine that of young actor Brett Tabis St., Seattle to March 1. sel, who bellows and blusters Tickets $23 to $45 US. Call (206) 292-T.87. through a funny turn as Josh's PETER BIRNIE best friend Billy, and Newman SUN THEATRE CRITIC then faces even greater vocal SEATTLE - The movie was challenges. a hit, yet a Broadway musical The show should hang on based on Big bo~bed as badly Josh's mom as sne pines for him as anything ever to have wiped in the poignant second-act out on the Great White Way. · piece Stop, Time, but Judy So why is Big not only back as McLane sounds thin, especially. a musical, but doing well on a when stacked against the real 33-city tour of the U.S.? The se powerhouse in this production. cret to surviving a $10-million Jacquelyn Piro is perfect as Su US debacle on Broadway, it san, first snarling out My Secre turns out, is to hit the highway tary's In Love as a managerial heavily reworked for a main tyrant before warming to Josh stream audience. in a pretty duet with co-star All but four of the songs from Newman titled Stars, Stars, the original show by Richard Stars, and then belting out the Maltby (lyrics) and David Shire beautiful Little Susan Lawrence. (music) have been axed, but Typical of any touring pro Maltby and Shire didn't have to duction, Big has to rely on sim reach far for replacements. ple sets with little gimmickry, a They went back to dozens of lot of energy from the support~ numbers that had either been ing cast to dress up the not-so cut during a heavy pre-Broad full-ensemble numbers, and a way edit in Detroit, sliced dur small orchestra heavy on multi ing the disastrous New York ple duties. run or simply left sitting in a Everyone is up to the task in trunk like mothballed clothes. RE-WORKED SOUND: Ron Holgate (left) and Jim Newman in Big. this brightand bouncy show, That may explain why what yet nothufg sh~:irt of an explo appeared on stage at Seattle's and makes a wish to be "big." ing toys. Josh then faces the ul- sion in that trunk Of Maltby and cavernous Paramount Theater The next morning he wakes up timate test of adulthood when Shire songs could alter the fact when Big opened here Tuesday looking like a gangly adult while fellow executive Susan that everything they've come carried the distinct whiff of still thinking like little Josh Lawrence falls for his sponta- up with in the much-reworked something still too stale from Baskins. neous ways. ' Big sounds pretty much the storage. Coincidence plants him in a Pre-growth Josh is played to same. I left the theatre hum Big is so light and inconse New York toy store just as a toy warm boy-soprano effect by ming a tune about growing tall, quential that its puff-pastry sen manufacturer is bemoaning the young Joseph Medeiros, but Jim but found it was Growing Tall sibilities make for a perfectly in grey corporate face of his busi Newman as his "big" version is fropi the Tony-winning musical offensive evening of musical ness, and in a blink the over-ea hampered by having to play the Nine. theatre, but this is just a rehash ger boy within the man is a man-child so sweet as to be a -· ------====;;;;;;;~ of '50s musical theatre in the vi~-president in charge of test- little boring. His high singing '90s. As in the popular 1988 film featuring Tom Hanks, a 12-year old boy tires of being too shy to talk to girls and too short to ride Big presented at Wild Thunder at the carn~val, Broadway SEATfl.E-The brand new musi- "BIG," the brand-new --rl[f stage adaptation of the hit film, musical stage adaptation of Big, runs Feb. 17 through March 1 in 3. the United Airlines Broadway at the ~ the 1988 film, plays Tues OOUTOFTOWN Paramount series. day.10J:ougfJ March 1 at Seattle's • Movie •iaig" as a musical: The story follows a 12-year-old Paramount Theatre, Ninth Avenue at The musical adaptation of the film kid named Josh who wishes to be "Big" is playing at Seattle's Para big, and thanks to a magical spell Pine Street. mount Theatre, 911 Pine St. It has suddenly is! As a grown-up, Josh is ·The family favorite follows Josh, original lyrics by Richard Maltby thrilled with the freedoms of adult a 12-year-old who wishes to be ~r.•. who ~o - authored the lyrics for I hood - having his own apartment Miss Saigon," and music by David and staying up late - but he is sur- big, and thanks to a magical spell, Shire. It will run through Marcb 1. prised at the thought of having a job suddenly is. and kissing a girl. Eventually he real Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesday· Tickets, available through TiCket through Saturday, 2 p.m. Satur~y izes that being a kid is not so bad and Sunday, and 7 p.m. Sunday. after all. master, range from $23 to $45. Tickets are $23 to $45. For more In 'ii! Tickets, $23 to $43, are avail Curtain is at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Sat formation, call (206) 622-7744. able at Ticketmaster outlets or by Olympian staff calling (206) 292-ARTS. urdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sun days, and 7 p:m. Sundays. , 'Bi too small for stage
Does size matter? Well, there's "Big," the mtJvie, which was a huge hit. Then I there's "Big," a la Broadway, which just stinks. Go figure. Broadway took an unas suming little movie vehicle for Tom Hanks and tried putting it on a big stage. After the open ing of "Big" on Tuesday night, one audience member com mented that he would change m;tly one thing - the title- from "Big" to "Lame." Adapting "Big" for the stage .was a mistake. Why? Well, it's just too small. Josh as a 12-year-old boy is played winningly by Joseph Medeiros. Josh wants to be big. A mysterious carnival Swami suddenly makes his dream come true. Being in a grownup's body -means stilying up-late, having his own apartment, and falling in love with a mature woman. It means being hired to test toys at a toy factory. It means dress ing up in men's suits. Josh turns 13 as a child in a man's body, and then decides he'd rather be a kid. In the role of the adult Josh is Jim Newman, who is a weak singer, a passable actor, and a good dancer. Aside from a cou ple of production numbers and a nice duet, however, the role gives him little chance to dance. Ron Holgate, left, and Jim Newman perform in 'Jtig,' now. at the Paramount._, Actors and singers who carry the show, or at least pull it along, are Brett Tabisel as Josh's loyal REVIEW * 1/2 12-year-old pal Billy, Jacquelyn Characters rattle Piro as Josh's ambitious 30-year BIG around in scenes that old sweetheart, and Ron Holgate A Broadway musical based on the as Mr. MacMillan the child-like movie 'Big,' 8 p.m. Tuesday through would be better toy company owner. Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and 8 p.m. Sunday, through played in a small Director Eric Schaeffer's March 1 on the Paramount stage. difficult challenge was to make ·Tickets $23-$45. For tickets or more venue. this little show seem big, like a information call Ticketmaster at Broadway show should be. The 206-292-ARTS. scenes in the t'oy company Now et: then this show trips badly over offices work best, with a gaggle Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., the local news. Playgoers can't o~ exec.utives marching about Seattle. help but think of child rapist Ma Ka Letourneau, es c cta w en . u an, t · o er Choreographer Kanna Camp by Richard Maltby Jr. are for woman in love with 13-year fills the stage with lively com gettable. old Josh, laments, "I'm gonna pany numbers "Cross the Llne" go tOjail." and "Coffee, Black . " Set pieces, mostly massive, Otherwise, characters rattle colorful, two-dimensional Local audiences can't help around in scenes that would be flats, are starting to look road but watch a "Big" fictional sit better played in a small venue. weary from too many trips uation that's cute, compare it back and forth from truck to to real-life events that are crim The book by John Weidman, stage. inal, and wonder what the dif music by David Shire and lyrics If timing is all in theater, ference is. Stage version lives up to its name -Big by Phil Steinsiek material written especially for the national tour, SEATTI.E - We know the story - a shy kid is but fans of the original Broadway production· tired of being a little kid and wishes to be a will hear several favorites. grownup. Among Newman's Broadway credits are "Steel With a few flashes of light and some smoke Pier," "Sunset Boulevard" and "The· Who's the kid becomes - Big. Tommy." Big, the musical stage adaptation of the hit Piro has performed on Broadway in "Sweet film, is at the PaPamount Theatre in Seattle Adeline" and "Les Miserables," and in the nation through March l. al tours of "Miss Saigon" and "The Secret Gar Like the 20th Century Fox film _it's based on, den" Big follows a 12-year-old kid named Josh who ~~o·adway veteran Ron Holgate plays toy com- wiShe$ to be big, and - thanks to a magical n e · limJ · dits_ - s p~II --sud~ ~_,..,-..-.~~~-....o!~c~l~ude "42nd Street," " end Me a tenor" and, As a grown-up, he is thrilled with the free- "Guys & Dolls." doms of adu).thooci - hax\Dl.bis:OWllJq>artm~t ~an.a st~}in,fiip ) - ~~ --:' btit'Xte, is ~wptjs~W. 'irt"tP:~ · wl=e!s~~:~~J:w•oominated Brom- tllougliOfliavifig a job anct kissing a girl...... , ~" And when the grown-up Josh, played by Jun Rounding out the cast are ]lrdy Mclan~ as Newinru:x, kissP~ ills co-worker girlfriend, Jacque- Jpsh's mother, Nick Cokas at Paul, Josh's neme lyn Pn'O, dt ariotfice party, a spot light hits him sis at the toy company and Joseph Medeiros as and all the other people dancing suddenly go Young Josh. irltb "slow motion." · · · ' Big features choreography ·by Karma Camp, In another scene, the adult Josh is in his set designs by Zach Brown, lighting design by office with his young best friend Billy, played by Ken Billington, orchestrations by Doug lle~teJ' Bre!f T~.f;!el, and tells him he's a vice president. ntan, with original Broadway costumes by , To which Billy responds, "Does that mean if the William Ivey Long. . president scores with an intern you're in For the most part, the sets have an animated charge?Y · feeling, except while at work - those sets are The first act of the play is a fast-paced romp much more institutionalized and sterile. through Josh's child-like look at being grown up. Big plays Tuesday through Sunday at the NeW;man does an excellent job portraying a Paramount with tickets ranging from $23 to 12-year,old in a 30-something body. $45. Tickets are available by calling (206) 292- While the story is for the younger set, there ARTS or at any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets are are several subtle jabs in the dialog meant for also available at The Paramount Theatre Box 1 the ad!J]ts in the audience. Office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through · This all-new version of Big features original Friday. · STAGE "Big" Pt:eSe".lted in s musical 'series SEA TILE - Tickets are now on sale for the brand new musi cal stage adaptation of the hit film, Big, which runs Feb. 17 through March 1. ~ i1 came 10 Broadway, P~ of the United Airlines lJit was more a la~ Broadway at the Paramount di.later than a hit. After a series, Big is based on the 20th rocky six-month run, t:m: play sb it Century Fox hit film. The story down, costing im produc:en milliON. follows a 12-year-old kid named Thie new~ which cema to Josh who wishes to be big, and e:att1e•e ParamountTh m Feb. 17 thanks to a magical spell sud thro\llb M.ai l. promises to bJIVC denly is! As a grown-up, Josh is little .in COJJUDOD thrilled with the freedoms of wirh the failed adulthood - having his own llroldway pi'Oduc- apartment and staying up late - tion. but he is surprised at the Dettsned as a. rri~ at The Para· thought of having a job and kiss family mu.~cal, Bil moont TheaV!! in Seattle and ing a girl. Eventually he realizes a.tthough It'$ a fur! fam;Jy sbow~ it fQIWars a 12-yeaf ...... that being a kid is not so bad /
--~~""'l'!IY!iOOllf,"li - -rmss quamy Offfi'e show does have bright moments. When for fun is Josh and his boss-to-be dance on huge piano keys and tap out "Chopsticks" and "Heart and Soul," the whimsy is entertain not always ing. Little jokes that are stuck onto the action - here's one about Bill Clinton's libido there's one about Saddam Hussein's appe~rance - are less effective in brighten a jolly effort ing things up. Director Eric D. Schaeffer and his cast work hard to make "big'' fun. Joseph By JOE ADCOCK Medeiros as little Josh, Jim Newman as big P.I THEATER CRmC Josh, Brett Tabisel as Josh's best friend, Jacqueline Piro as Susan and Ron Holgate A recurring (and re-recurring and re-re as the toy tycoon, plus a dozen other valiant recurring) theme in "big" is that fun is not performers struggle, struggle, struggle to neces.5arily fun. Ambitious stuffed-shirt ex create a bouncy fable. ecutives at a toy-manufacturing company They are about as successful as "bifs" try and try and try to come up with grim business sch
THEATER REVIEW • big. A musical by John Weidman (book), Richard Maltby Jr. (lyrics) and David Shire (music), based on the movie by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg. Paramount Th_e~~--ll.L-fin_~St.------~~~~cKetS'$~W6- ' 292-2787.
And "big'' itself - a touring musical playing at the Paramount - thrashes around in a similar paradox. The authors thought a musical based on the 1988 Tom Hanks motion picture comedy "Big'' would be fun. Wrong. "Big," the musical, lost $10.3 million on Broadway - some kind of Jim Newman record-setting disaster according to "Vari plays big Josh, ety," the show business weekly. who's in for So maybe a scaled-down version, with big surprises in out (for example) the orIStage roller coaster, ~wn-up would stand a better chance of exuding fun. Wrong. "Big'' is still a tiny little idea, a mere whimsical notion, really, that is loaded down with undistinguished songs and flat characters. Here's the whimsical notion: Josh is 12, almost 13. He feels awkward when he is with a girl on whom he has a crush. He wishes he were a big man. He gets his wish. Then he gets a job in the toy manufacturing company. He hooks up with a co-worker, Susan. He discovers that big does not equal fun. Pretentious adults, with their caviar and champagne, are tiresome. Driving a BMW is hard. Even harder is managing a relationship. So Josh wishes to be little again. No problem. The idea is half "Alice in Wonderland" (first I wanna be big, then I wanna be little) and half "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (corporate politics as cQild's play). When Josh's mother goes from habitual ironic grumpiness to acciden tal tragic bereavement, the tone of ''big'' 'Veell cut of control 'Big' REVIEW Musical riot • "Big" - s ge musicalbased o~ the quite the classic movie; through March 1 at the Paramount, 911 it could be Pine, Seattle. Tiqkets $23-$45 by calli g 206- By DIANE WRIGHT 292-2787. tie@kj Writer maybe, just_maybe, budges that EA.TILE - Let's see - inner child out of the box for what in musical theater another try. ' Srhymes with "geek?" The show curre tly at the J\n~er: "speak." Paramount Theatre Is a quieter It's guaranteed that Rodgers version of the $l0 million and Hammerstein never had to Broadway blockbuster. At a worry about rhyming words like tenth of the budget, the touring "dork." But . then, they weren't show _seems mor, winning, writin~ a musical in the 1990s. especially with Jim Newman in "Big" IS the live stage musical the lead. This vers-latile actor version of a movie about a singer-dancer brin~ off the .. young man who wants to grow show's outrageous If.emise. Big up - fast. J\nd it has all the ·Josh, you see, is a 13-year-old flaws - and the successes - of kid trapped in a ma"'s body, the the movie. It's superficial at product of a carniv~ wish ful ·times, pat and obvious. But it filled. Before he's z;tpped back gets to your heartstrings - and by the fortunetellif machine, Carol Rosegg photo Jim Newman and Jacquelyn Piro in the national t.Ouring company of the new musical "Big."
he climbs the corporate ladder Maybe the I love is Josh, less empty choreography and and stands it on its ear to the who she falls in love with vapid musical numbers and point where the kids are in more quickly if confwildly. more ideas. charge ·than the tantruming "You want tG play games?" The office folk are fine, as a grown-ups. Josh asks s~. who has backdrop to Josh's adult world, Composer David Shire's seductiQn on the mind, not for example, but none of their music for the show is pedestrian Stratego or ~rabble. He's scenes emphasize the uptight 111g presented at Paramount ,.._ he's known for movie scores polite, and he's respectful. So ness of that world the way a · SE!tTTI.E - Tickets are now on sale for the brand new but seems less adept at live the~ what if he says "aweso~" and bunch of scientists in lab coats mustcal stage adaptation of the hit ftlm, Big, which runs ater. But Richard Maltby's lyrics spins hula hoops? would have. Feb. 17 through March l. Part of the United Airlines are zippy and to the point, get They have fun with outra "Big"·is a happy show, though Broadway at the Paramount series, JJig is based on the ting to the heart of the show's geous props (oversized boxing it could go from pleasant to pro 20th Century Fox hit film. The story follows a 12-year- issues, which seem to be about gloves, among others, and a big found with a few ~ey concepts. It old kid named Josh who wishes tc be big, and tbanlcs to time. Mom laments there was piano keyboard where Josh needs· to do more with the con is a magical spell suddenly is! As a grown-up, Josh not enough time with her son dances out tunes). But some cept of time. Kids want to p~h thrilled with the freedoms of adulth1>od - having his before he went away, son Josh thing's lacking in the fun. it, grown-ups try to delay it. own apartment and staying up late - but Ile is surprised wants to grow up fast but then Maybe it needs a Law-el and Which would make Josh's at the thought of having a job and l