Big Fish Splashes onto Tower Theater Stage

You can only see 10 percent of an iceberg above water – the majority of it remains hidden in murky uncertainty underneath the water.

In Alluvion Stage Company’s production of “Big Fish,” which is running at Tower Theater until May 6, the character Will Bloom compares his traveling salesman father, Edward, to an iceberg with unknown depths.

Growing up, Will listened as his father spun tall tales about his encounters with various creatures: a witch who told him how he would die, a once-reclusive giant who joins Edward on his journeys, and his time at a circus wooing his future wife.  Will becomes frustrated that he feels that he only knows this heroic version of his father and believes that his father might be telling the stories to cover up sordid parts of his past.

Upon the brink of fatherhood himself, Will returns to his rural Alabama hometown after hearing about his father’s cancer, and his search to separate fact from fiction in his father’s stories leads him to some surprising stories from Edward’s life that had been previously unmentioned.

“(Big Fish is) just a wonderful reminder that relationships between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, siblings, neighbors, are so important because that’s what keeps people connected,” Linda Cooper, director of the show, said.

Big Fish is based off of a book by Daniel Wallace, which was made into a 2003 movie directed by Tim Burton and a Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and script by John August. Alluvion’s production is a bit different than the one audiences might see on Broadway, though.

“We’re the Central Virginia premiere of what’s called Big Fish small cast version, so it is a different script from the Broadway script, which had a cast of 40-some – so we have a cast of 20,” Cooper said.  “The script has been adjusted to be a more intimate type of feeling, so it’s been a challenge to bring the intimacy of the story in script to a theater that’s this big.”

Actor Brandon Shawl, who plays the circus ringmaster Amos Calloway and is a member of the ensemble, the cast’s small size helped the cast grow close to each other.

“Since we have such a small cast and crew, it was so easy to create a community,” Shawl said.  “So many times, there are so many people that are involved in a show that it is hard to get to know everyone personally.  It has been such a joy to meet everyone and get to know them on a personal level.”

Teagan Cooper, daughter of director Linda Cooper, played a friend of Edward’s wife Sandra and was also in the ensemble. She has appreciated the intimacy a smaller cast and crew brings.

“Big Fish is different from the other shows I have done at Liberty since it is a smaller cast and crew than a typical musical here,” Teagan Cooper said.  “I think it has made us all closer as a cast. It is also a show that is not as well known, so it’s exciting to share a story that no one knows.”

The tale of a father and son’s relationship plays out against a backdrop of an elaborate set that transforms the Tower Theater stage into rural Alabama, with moss and leaves draping down the sides of wooden docks where generations of Bloom men teach their sons how to fish.

“Not only are the sets, costumes, lights, sound, music and choreography just outstanding, but the story is the best part,” Shawl said.  “I have never been in a show that has such a compelling story that has touched my life as much as this one has.”

Linda Cooper said she believes the story is particularly important for graduating seniors.
“I think it’s an appropriate show for the generation of students who are graduating to be reminded of their heritage as they’re about ready to go on a journey into adulthood, and that it’s so important to remember our parents, to remember our hometowns, to remember the beliefs that were instilled in us as kids, to remember the stories of our hometowns so we can pass them on to the next generation to keep the regional areas of America alive,” Cooper said.

The story is not one that just graduating seniors can relate to, though; everyone can take away a tale of family and love with “Big Fish.”

“I hope the audience walks away from this show reminded of the significance of family, and I hope everyone is encouraged to create a legacy of joy and love in their own lives,” Teagan Cooper said.  “I don’t want to give too much away but expect to leave the theater with a very full heart. And probably a few tears.”