Holy clever.
Among the many big moments, big things and big people (literally) on display during “Big Fish” at the Aurora Fox Arts Center, that hallowed platitude is the sputtering deduction.
Flying fish? An all-stage, fully choreographed blow dart fight? A field of faux-fauna that looks like it was rolled in from “The Sound of Music” DVD cover?
“Big Fish” serves all of those tidbits of extravaganza and more — the cleverness founded in the fact that despite those opulent firecrackers, the peppy dialogue and startlingly affecting plot is never overshadowed by gloss. Phew.
Despite slight trepidation regarding the chops of the protagonist in the first act, “Big Fish” is a wide-eyed explosion of charisma, with actors who stand tall to the show’s tall tales and a stage crew that wows with steady dots of pageantry, but finds clever ways to keep the plot unmuddied. Not an easy feat when dealing with characters as aggrandized as those in the Bloom clan.
With lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by John August, “Big Fish” was originally a 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace, but only gained widespread acclaim after director Tim Burton turned it into a film in 2003. For the anti-Burtonites out there, the story follows the “Odyssey”-like journey of Edward Bloom, a master yarn spinner who self-reportedly leads a life that’s as riveting as it is unbelievable. Very unbelievable.
The Fox could have hurriedly leaned into that oh-my-gah-did-you-just-see-dah nature that Edward’s stories lend themselves to — it could have easily been a Broadway-like “Lion King.” Because really, who cares what’s being said (even if it’s from a place drenched in gold-hearted naïveté) as long as you get to see trapeze artists twirl and stilted drummers drum?
Well, with a story as charming and as well known as that in “Big Fish” has become, plenty of people care. And luckily, Director John Ashton, Music Director David Nehls, Choreographer Piper Lindsay Arpan and the entirety of Charles Packard’s scenic team realized that and peeled back just enough of the spectacular to let the purist themes of fluffy dreams and saccharine love shine through.
That’s not to say the show misses every chance to beat its chest — it does, and it’s phenomenal. Even knowing what to expect, there are multiple occasions when jaws have to be scooped off the floor and slapped back to attention. And even more times when eyes ache after squinting ferociously at the shadowy nether regions of the stage, doggedly attempting to answer, “how the heck did they just do that?” Seriously, where did those flowers come from and how the heck did they vanish right after intermission?
But thankfully, the fantasy of Edward’s stories doesn’t delve into rabbit holes too deep to dig out of, and though certainly grandiose, it never quite trumps the surprisingly poignant story on display.
That’s largely because of Kevin Schwarz. Though inducing some skepticism at first, Schwarz wrangles the fiery Edward Bloom, powerfully embodying everything about the tempestuous raconteur with a larger-than-life vim. His shared songs with onstage wife Sandra (Megan Van De Hey) pop almost as wildly as her amber hair and dish a satisfying amount of chemistry. If you don’t leave with at least the tiniest twang of Alabama sass in your voice after stepping out of The Fox, you’re more of a Yankee than those pinstriped chaps from the Bronx.
The show also sports a pair of disparate yet powerful doppelgangers who impress with their deliveries and the uncanny way in which they imitate silver screen heroes. Rob Costigan — a ringer for late comedian Robin Williams — is an incendiary Amos Calloway, exploding with a chintzy accent that would have made Williams flash a grin. Matt Summers delivers as a combative Will Bloom, a performance eerily reminiscent of the geeky neuroticism Jesse Eisenberg portrays in, well, every film he lands.
Finally, it’d be foolish not to mention Scott Rathbun as a seersuckered Alabama Mayor, who is so aptly cast it feels like he was hand-plucked out of Dixie just moments before the opening curtain. On top of Rathbun, fellow secondary cast member Mark Rubald is a certified scene-stealer as Karl the Giant. His deadpan, heady responses garner the hardiest har-hars of the show.
With the help of some brilliant off-number music at the hands of The Fox band, “Big Fish” is an appropriately-inflated wonder that entertains and even inspires from the first cast of the line to the protagonist’s final nautical departure.
It’s a brassy move to bring this show to any stage, let alone one located in what once was a narrow, decaying movie theater. But the reason The Fox wanted to reel “Big Fish” onto its main stage was because they claimed to know how to make it just big enough. And they cleverly reeled in a winner.
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‘Big Fish’
Curtains at 7:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday, 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Runs through March 22 at The Aurora Fox Arts Center, 9900 E. Colfax Ave.
For ticket information, call the box office at 303-739-1970 or go to aurorafoxartscenter.org