Activity #2: Singing Time

Hi again!

I love musical soundtracks. I've listened to more than you could imagine. The soundtrack for Big Fish has quickly become one of my favourites. My favourite track has to be "What's Next". Will sings it solo at first, and the whole ensemble joins in at the end of the song. Will and Edward are in a hospital room, and they're planning Edward's escape so that he can go down to the river. When they arrive at the river, Will is surprised to see all of Edward's old friends. I love that it begins so simply with the string instruments and Will singing solo, and then it slowly grows in intensity, both in the backing track and in the vocals. It tells so much of the story in 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and there are so many emotions that can be conveyed to the audience. Happiness, fear, anticipation, bliss. I see the scene beginning very simply, like the song itself, with Will and Edward alone in a room and then the two of them will start moving, possibly passing by a few tableaus that include Dr. Bennett or Edward's old Chevy, and then finishing with the whole ensemble on stage and all of Edward's friends from his stories, and the whole thing will just ooze with happiness. I think it will end up being one of those scenes that makes the audience feel like they're part of the musical, like they're connected to us.
My least favourite song is "Showdown". Edward and the ensemble sing it. It takes place in Edward's dream sequence, where he's fighting Red Fang. I don't particularly enjoy it because it's a little too repetitive for my liking, especially at the beginning. I also don't like the fact that there are so many talking and instrumental breaks. The dialogue that happens in it is a bit too cheesy for me. I know there will always be an element of cheesiness when it comes to this particular kind of song, but it's just a bit too much. I think it could be improved by making the scene that it takes place in very dramatic, more dramatic than you could ever imagine, so that the repetitiveness is less noticeable. After saying all this, I do want to add that just because "Showdown" isn't my favourite song, it doesn't mean that I hate it. I'm just not very partial to it.

-Mary-Clare  

Activity #1: Story Time

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to finally be a part of the musical production this year. I can just tell we're going to have an amazing experience.

The first thing I noticed about the movie version of Big Fish is the fact that there are more differences than similarities when compared to the musical. There are a few major parts of the movie that aren't found in the musical, for example, the entire storyline about the forest and the town of Spectre, which brings us to another major difference. In the movie, Jenny Hill is ten years younger than Edward, while in the musical, they are around the same age.  The scene that stood out to me the most was the scene down by the river, when all of Edward's friends show up to send him off. The reason it stood out to me was because I believe that it was at this point in the story that Will finally began to understand his father and all of his stories. He realized that all of the "characters" in his dad's tales were actually very real, but there were certain characteristics in each one of them that he had exaggerated to make his stories a bit more interesting. For example, Karl the giant wasn't actually a giant, he was just a very tall man. I believe that Edward just became so used to tell his stories in his imaginative way that, in his head, all of these exaggerations were true.
The moral lesson that I took away from the movie was that we should all live our lives to the fullest, because we might miss out on some amazing opportunities. Also, another lesson that I learned was that be imaginative can make our lives so much more interesting, but we have to be careful, because it can take over our lives and could potentially ruin relationships.
There are a couple of ways that you could interpret the metaphor of the "Big Fish", but I take it to mean that Edward thinks of himself as the big fish, as a person who can't be caught or tamed, and is seen to be unusual by the people around him. When he dies, he becomes the big fish, and he swims away in the river, with could be a representation of Heaven.
Although I don't really have a specific character, understanding the storyline helps me get a feel for the atmosphere of the town and people in the town. It allows me to delve deeper into the story itself and really understand how I should portray my character and myself onstage.

Bye for now!