It turns out, as I discovered last night at The York Theatre's "Musicals in Mufti" performance of BIG, sometimes being forced to eat your words can be an entirely wonderful experience.
I arrived at the theater unfamiliar with the term “Mufti” but James Morgan, the animated Artistic Director of the York Theatre, must expect such confusion from first time patrons so he stepped to the stage, graciously welcomed his packed house and shed some light on what performing a show in “Mufti" means. To my surprise it means performing in street clothes without sets and extensive production elements. Now, I love the technical elements so of course, I thought, "Oh great, they're missing all of the best parts." But before the opening number was halfway over it was clear to me, and the audience, as evidence by the grins spreading like wildfire, that ‘’Mufti” refers only to a lack of physical trappings and not a lack of quality. So, I say now, without hesitation, that BIG was one of the most unapologetically joyous and entertaining shows I've seen in a long time.
Stripped from the typical lavishness of a full Broadway production, the show has an intensely intimate feeling, as if you are a guest watching a final rehearsal that is taking place in someone's living room. Yet, it isn't any less transportive than its Broadway counterpart. Perhaps that's because, in a more intimate theater, you feel a strange, secretive camaraderie with the performers, as if they're there just for you. The "bare bones" staging also leaves room for the complete appreciation of the masterful content created by Richard Maltby, David Shire and John Weidman. In fact, according to Michael Unger’s “Director's Note”, the creative team were on hand to share their input throughout the rehearsal. Part of which was the choice to include several songs that had been relegated to “the trunk” by the time the Broadway production premiered. The songs had been restored for the National Tour with great success and now make their official New York debut.
With only five days of rehearsal to to pull the show together; staging, choreography, music and all, performing "in Mufti" strikes me as a risky undertaking. And yet, even with books in hand, the cast interacts so compellingly, and performs with such talent and drive, that this Herculean accomplishment flows without a hitch.
If you somehow missed the late-eighties, BIG is a cautionary coming of age tale about why you shouldn't be in such a rush to grow up. Josh Baskin, a diminutive, soon to be thirteen-year-old living in New Jersey and fed up with all of the coddling and confusion that comes with such a tender age, wishes on a Carnival's Zoltar machine to become big. When he wakes up the next morning in the body of a thirty year old, hijinks ensue. John Tartaglia (Avenue Q, Shrek) plays adult Josh with just as much gleefully charming and childish aplomb as you could possibly hope. Kerry Butler (Xanadu, Catch Me if you Can), as adult Josh's somewhat inconceivable and yet perfectly heartwarming coworker turned love interest, Susan Lawrence, is a perfect conduit for explaining one of the show's central dilemmas; how can adults recapture the simpler joys of youth? Jeremy Shinder (Super Buddies) is remarkably adorable and in control as Josh's streetwise best friend, Billy Kopecki. And to the delight of the audience, it was revealed at intermission that the charming gentleman playing the role of MacMillan was in fact lyricist, Richard Maltby, Jr., himself.
That BIG is back in the Big Apple after close to two decades could not be more delightful. The musical, set amongst the iconic sites of the city including the famed FAO Schwartz (home of the giant keyboard) is unabashedly a love letter to New York, a city where we all have our wishes, and where strange magic can happen indeed.
BIG,Book By John Weidman, lyrics By Richard Maltby, Jr., Music By David Shire
Directed By Michael Unger, Music Direction By Eric Svejcar, featuring John Tartaglia and Kerry Butler. With Elainey Bass, Whitney Brandt, Walter Charles, Trista Dollison, Liam Forde, Tom Lucca, James Ludwig, Rhyn Mclemore, Janet Metz, Julianna Rigoglioso, Jeremy Shinder and Hayden Wall, is at York Theatre Company At Saint Peter’s, October 11-19, 2014 For tickets go to www.yorktheatre.org/membership
