Big Fish
Auditions
January 20, 21, & 22, 2020 @ 7:00pm
Preview
March 12, 2020
Performances
March 13-15, 20-22, & 27-29, 2020
Preview, Friday & Saturday @ 7:30pm • Sunday @ 2:30pm
Synopsis
Big Fish a musical with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by John August. It is based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, and the 2003 film Big Fish written by John August and directed by Tim Burton.
Edward Bloom has lived a full and fantastical life, populated by witches, giants, and mermaids, marked by true love that stops time in its tracks, and framed by heroics that push the limits of believability. His adult son, Will, is no longer amused by his father’s fantastical tales, insisting on a rational rather than a fantastical account of one’s life. When Edward’s health declines, and Will learns that he and his wife, Josephine, will have a son of their own, Will decides to find out his father’s “true” life story, once and for all.
Big Fish is a heartfelt, powerful, and truly magical musical about fathers, sons, and the stories that we use to define our identities. With spine-tinglingly beautiful music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, and a funny, heartwarming book by John August, Big Fish is a magnificent “big fish” of a tale, itself — spectacular, fantastical, and overflowing with love.
This musical is Rated PG.
Historian's Corner
The second musical of the 97th season was “Big Fish”. “Big Fish” a musical with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by John August. It is based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, and the 2003 film Big Fish written by John August and directed by Tim Burton.
Big Fish is a heartfelt, powerful, and truly magical musical about fathers, sons, and the stories that we use to define our identities. “Big Fish” is a magnificent “big fish” of a tale, itself — spectacular, fantastical, and overflowing with love. The second musical of the season was a first-time presentation of the 2013 musical, “Big Fish”. The story shifts between the two timelines. In the present-day real world, sixty-year-old Edward Bloom faces his mortality while Will prepares to become a father himself. In the storybook past, Edward ages from a teenager, encountering a Witch, a Giant, a Mermaid, and the love of his life, Sandra. The stories meet as Will discovers the secret his father never revealed.
Suddenly catastrophe hit the nation and the Community Players when the seriousness of the Novel Corona Virus Pandemic also is known as COVID-19 became known. The entire country now braced for a shut-down of all business except for essential services.
The show learned just before the opening that COVID-19 had begun to spread in an uncontrolled manner throughout the country, much as the Spanish Flu of 1918 had done. Just before the pay-what-you-can performance on March 15, the Players learned that an announcement would be made on March 16, and the state of Illinois businesses could be shut down to reduce the spread of the virus.
On March 16, the Governor ordered everyone to shut down beginning at 5 p.m. on March 17. All businesses and non-essential services (groceries, gas stations, hospitals, medical personnel) were to close and individuals to shelter-in-place at home.
Our Box Office worked extremely efficiently to get as many patrons as possible for the pay-what-you-can night and the opening Friday and Saturday to attend ahead of the shutdown. We would have to close on Saturday night after the performance.
The devastating thing is that this unique musical had just begun to sell tickets, but was stopped in its tracks. We shall never know other than the three nights patrons could see the show just what audiences thought. It would be the second show in Players 97-year history that a review would never appear for the show. Fortunately, the show was both photographed and videoed for the Community Players archive.
