Going Big

Audiences and actors really seem to enjoy body-switch shows. Look at the fun Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins had in the classic 1988 film Big.

The Hollywood actors successfully brought out the inner essence of children, both big and small, as they fired jokes across the generation gap. And audiences ate it up.

Part of the switcheroo attraction is human nature’s yearning for something different. Movies such as Big and Freaky Friday poke light-hearted fun at people’s desire to be someone else.

“It’s funny how in your youth you wanted to be older. And as you get older, you’re wishing you could shave off a decade or two,” smiles Janice Flower, St. Albert Children’s Theatre artistic director.

This year, the theatre troupe winter production is going large with Big, The Musical. It opens Nov. 26 for a nine-day run at the Arden Theatre.

In this fantasy-comedy, 12-year-old Josh Baskin has a crush on 13-year-old Cynthia Benson. Most of the time, he’s tongue-tied around girls, but musters the courage to talk to her at the carnival in the lineup for a ride called Wild Thunder.

Unfortunately, she has a 16-year-old date. Even more embarrassing, Josh is too short to ride Wild Thunder. Humiliated, he skateboards to a private corner of the carnival with fun houses and a mysterious fortune-telling machine called Zoltar Speaks.

Unthinkingly, he makes a wish to be big. Voila! The next morning Josh awakens in the body of a 30-year-old with the spirit of a 12-year-old.

After the initial panic, he confides in his best friend Billy and they run to the carnival grounds to make a reverse wish. However, the touring carnival has left for New York and they have no choice but to follow.

Once in the Big Apple, Josh meets MacMillan, the head of a toy company whose sales have nosedived. Josh innocently proceeds to tell him what his toys lack. MacMillan is impressed at the 30-year-old man standing before him with remarkable insights into the minds of children and hires him.

“Josh is straight up. He doesn’t blow smoke up MacMillan’s butt and that’s what he likes,” Flower says.

However, it’s this very innocence that causes chaos as Josh enters the adult world of friendships – both platonic and romantic.

“His wish is something everyone can relate to. His intention is not to be different, just older, something he yearns for to make life better. But he learns we need to go through life rather than jump the queue and that’s Josh’s lesson.”

For Jarrett Krissa (Legally Blonde/Peter Pan) playing a boy in a man’s body poses some unusual challenges.

“I had to pick the moments when I let the boy show through. What’s charming about Josh is that he’s so young and fresh. I can’t play him too uptight or he loses his charm. There’s lots of interaction woven into the role,” said Krissa.

Big, The Musical was adapted for theatre in 1996, but only ran for 193 performances. Although nominated for five Tony Awards including the score, it was at that time one of Broadway’s biggest money losers.

Some critics cavalierly dismissed the musical as a poor match for the blockbuster movie. However, the snappy David Shire-Richard Maltby Jr. score continues to rack up big crowds with community theatres.

“For us it brings back memories of the ’80s. For kids it’s a walk through history,” Flower noted.

Her memories of the ’80s dance music/new wave era are shared by assistant director/choreographer Jackie Pooke.

“I remember watching MTV. It was huge. As a dancer, I watched all the MTV videos and practised Madonna steps. It was my thing,” Pooke said. “Video dancing was big. There was Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, Cyndi Lauper.”

With an older cast this year, Pooke has taken the choreography up a few notches incorporating turbo moves from Running Man, Moonwalk, Thriller and Rhythm Nation.

One eye-popping showstopper is the Coffee Black, a huge production number with 33 bodies dancing in a kick-line full of dance breaks, turns, spins and jumps.

“It’s challenging because there’s a lot of partner work and a couple of boys lift the girls. It’s a very fast swing style with coffee cups,” Pooke said.

“That number alone is worth the price of admission,” interjects Flower.

Another Pooke stunner is Fun, a Fred Astaire-styled number where Josh and MacMillan hoof it across an extra large piano keyboard constructed courtesy of the theatre crew.

“At first, it was quite something to see watch them dance, but they picked up the coordination of playing the keyboard,” said Karina Cox, last seen in Theatre Yes fall production of Bone Cage.

Cox plays the female lead role of Susan, vice-president of marketing for the toy company. She’s driven by the need to succeed in a man’s world and has lost touch with her emotions.

Although an intelligent, hard-working woman she makes poor choices in men. During some of her first scenes, she’s dating Paul, a power-hungry co-worker who throws her under the bus to advance his career.

“She’s quite a workaholic and she doesn’t have time for relationships. At first she’s closed off, but Josh changes her life. Susan’s journey is to get in touch with her past and her inner child. Instead Josh’s journey is to learn to be grateful for what he has and be appreciative of the moment he’s in,” Cox said.

In keeping with the ’80s era, costume designer Dana Strauss has created a visual time machine emphasizing lots of padded shoulders, neon colours, parachute pants, leg warmers and big hair.

Since much of the action takes place around a toy company, the set is peppered with period cars, firetrucks, blaster guns, action figures, tabletop games and a pinball machine.

For Flower, Big is an opportunity to explore what it means to be a kid and an adult in today’s world, and how the two are more confusing than ever.

“Kids grow up more quickly today. They have full course loads at school and after school they have activities and part-time jobs to buy all the gadgets out there.”

Krissa relays similar thoughts and believes the musical advances one important idea.

“Know that you are enough and stay in the moment. It’s about living for now instead of wishing to be someplace else. There’s so much pressure to be an adult and there’s almost no time to be a kid. As an adult, Josh learns age doesn’t define who you are. He learns who he is.”