Big Fish is a tall tale about a bit of a strange bird. Based on a 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, and a 2003 film adaptation directed by Tim Burton, the musical tells the story of a man who has alienated his son through his compulsive storytelling. Traveling salesman Edward Bloom has been spinning magical yarns in which he is the hero all his life, and his frustrated son Will can’t tell what is truth and what is fiction. While his mother Sandra and his fiancée Josephine think he is charming, Will thinks his father tells the stories to both aggrandize and hide himself. Is he the “big fish” he portrays himself to be, or just a tiresome blowhard with a tenuous grasp on the truth and an inability to genuinely connect with those around him? When his father blurts out at Will’s wedding that his new wife is already pregnant, thoroughly embarrassing them both, Will cuts himself off from his father for several years. Only when he finds out his father is dying does the son return to try to sort out fact from fantasy. All of this is interspersed with dramatizations of Edward’s tall tales, involving a fortune-telling witch, a mermaid, a giant, a barbell-hoisting strongman, a circus run by a werewolf, and other unlikely characters. Scene from ‘Big Fish.’ Photo by Adam Blackstock. Other Voices Theatre’s production is very bare-bones. Christine Levy’s set consists primarily of a bed and a hospital dividing screen, which is sometimes used for projections. This is enlivened by Zoe Alexandratos and Nancy Speck’s costumes, which manage to effectively present the fantastical characters on a shoestring, including a collection of creepy caped characters that may be woods or witches, the charming mermaid whose tail at one point pokes out from the other side of the screen, the lycanthropic ringmaster in red tailcoat, the Giant bedecked in animal pelts and hiked up on Frankenstein shoes, and a trio of Alabama cuties in pastel dresses. (One perplexing choice is having Will’s bride wearing a distracting gray leotard under her wedding dress, but perhaps that is necessitated by a quick costume change.) Other costume changes do the trick of enabling the small cast to portray a variety of characters. Donna Grim’s choreography is engaging in the Witch’s spooky song “I Know What You Want,” which is the closest the show comes to a production number. Scene from ‘Big Fish.’ Photo by Adam Blackstock. Director Andrew Lloyd Baughman makes the most of the minimal space and set, and elicits powerful performances from the cast. Michelle Boiselle is charming as the mermaid and touching as Edward’s first crush, Jenny. Alexandra Faye makes the most of the comic role of the Giant. Christopher Holden bullies convincingly as Edward’s nemesis, Don Price. Lee Rosenthal, usually seen to advantage in soprano roles, plays and sings the furry circus manager Amos Calloway with humor and gusto. Becca Sears Mills makes a lithe and mysterious witch. Laura Hepp Saunders is sweet as Josephine. The most challenging roles belong to the three principals, and they fill them well. Lance Teller portrays his pain and frustration with his father’s fabrications very affectingly. Chrissy Barnett Miller is heartwarming and heart-wrenching as Sandra, Edward’s long-suffering but loving wife. And Bob Gudauskas is tremendous in the very demanding role of Edward. He is almost never offstage, and has to play Edward from a teen to a hero to a stroke-stricken old man. His performance is a tour de force. The cast of ‘Big Fish.’ Photo by Adam Blackstock. But is in the music where Big Fish makes the biggest splash. Although relying on backing tracks, Music Director Lisa Dodson brings out the utmost in her singers. Lance Teller’s voice is almost too big for the space, and makes his emotional battle and reconciliation with his father larger than life. Chrissy Barnett Miller’s clear soprano and lovely vibrato are sweet in her lighter numbers, and soaring in the songs where she expresses her love for Edward, such as “I Don’t Need a Roof.” And Bob Gudauskas’ strong singing runs the gamut from heroic humor to touching love songs to anguish. Especially with the minimal stage effects, it is difficult in Big Fish to tell what is meant as realism and what as fantasy — especially when it comes to the question of what Edward actually accomplished in his life. But in the end, the show is a hymn to the power of the imagination and storytelling to lift life out of the mundane and give it magic and meaning. And when it comes down to it, what better medium for that message than the musical theater, where the story is underscored, and people improbably burst into song to express their most powerful emotions? Big Fish celebrates the power of storytelling and song to make us more than we are, and to bring us together. Other Voices Theatre’s Big Fish is a powerful show in a deceptively plain package, thought-provoking and moving. It is worth catching. Running Time: Approximately two hours with one intermission. Big Fish – Small Cast Edition plays through October 13, 2024 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm), presented by Other Voices Theatre performing at The Performing Arts Factory, 244B South Jefferson Street in Frederick, MD. For tickets (adult $25; senior, student $21), call the box office at (301) 662-3722 or purchase them online. Big Fish – Small Cast Edition Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa Book by John August